Human - One-Shots Collection
by LizzyLucky
Summary: T for safety. My one-shots, my write ups of your requests ! Good, yeah? Yeah. -Chapter 2, Bruises, up!- After the battle with Tech-Wu, when he is left hurt and afraid, Kai ends up feeling very tentative and cautious of his Sensei. The old master has to learn why his student is acting so strangely and ultimately earn his trust back. Will Kai ever see Wu as a father-figure again?
1. Human

I have never done a one-shot before, and I'm not exactly the best writer in the world either, so bare with me, okay? Anyway, first one-shot, just an idea that I had. Or rather, that I have all the time and don't want to turn into a full story. It takes place directly after season four, Chen's Island or whatever, and focusses mainly around Zane. It has some good old fashioned brotherly love between Zane and Kai, and if you use your imagination, you might see a little Zane x Nya. Not my favorite couple, and there will be some bonding here in the one-shot, but at the most, only hints of the more "romantic" side of the ship. Last but certainly not least, I don't want this to be my only oneshot here. I have ideas, and I could easily come up with more. It depends on whether or not you guys like it. So here's the thing: I'll write more one-shots of my own, but in addition, you can send me **one-shot requests** and I may or may not be able to write them. If you do though, just a few rules: I will not do mature themes. I can do couples and ships, and I looovvveeee doing family-like relationships. Be it between Sensei Wu and one of the ninja as a fatherly bond, or between two ninja as a brotherly bond, or between one of the ninja and Nya as a sisterly bond (or a romantic bond, I guess), I love most stuff like that. Mature themes means anything smut, lemon, or same sex. I won't do it, so don't ask. Otherwise, send in those ideas, because I'm itching to write for Ninjago!

One last thing, if you read all that, just know you're awesome!

-LizzyLucky

* * *

He crouched low, shuriken in hand. Viewing his targets, he looked left, then right, then left again. Taking one last look upward, he sprinted forward and sprung himself into the air. Up, up, up, and at the perfect height now, he drew his arm back, prepared to strike. One to his left, one to his right, and one right below him. He leaned forward and did a quick flip. As he drew closer to the ground, he kicked his legs in opposite directions, each smashing into one of his targets, and whipped his arm downwards, hitting his mark dead on and landing stealthily on his feet. Then, a massive bag of sand began to loose from above him. Just before it fell, he did a shoulder roll to the left, just barely missing it and sliding easily into a standing position.

Or, at least, that's what was _supposed_ to happen.

In reality, not any one of the three target boards had broken during his practice session. Zane had to admit defeat as he called for his brother's help, dangling upside down from the rope which was supposed to be holding a bag of sand for training.

"I told you, Zane! You shouldn't have even been training today!" Cole said, folding his arms in that 'I-told-you-so' manner.

"And I already told you that I'm not tired. Just because we were busy so late last night, doesn't mean I'm too tired to be training." Zane said.

"You're just too proud to admit it." Cole countered.

"If you say so." Zane said, pulling his upper body up to start untying his tangled leg.

"Lower the ropes so I don't fall." He said, turning toward Cole.

The rusty pulley squealed as it released the ropes suspending Zane, who landed gently on his back.

"Thank you." Zane said, nodding to Cole, who beamed.

"Why don't you just call it quits already? I think your training has done more damage to you than to the equipment!" He said, offering a hand to Zane. Zane accepted and pulled himself back onto his feet.

It had been a little ridiculous to watch that morning. For whatever reason, the Nindroid just couldn't seem to get through this move. He'd done it dozens of times before in battle and training, but he and the ninja had been out extra late the night before and now that he was up, he couldn't seem to get it quite right. The first time he tried it, he flipped too quickly and ended up landing on his back instead of his feet. After that, he slipped whilst trying to roll away from the falling sandbag, which landed on him as a result. Then another time when he'd simply stepped on his own foot when trying to leap up for the flip, and he face-planted the deck, not even making it an inch into the air. Then after that, his entire move had been shifted to the left, and his foot missed one of the targets altogether, basically jerking his whole body in the wrong direction. And all of that wasn't even the half of it! This time, he'd jumped up and lost his concentration, so he flipped in the wrong direction and got his leg tangled up in the ropes holding up the sand bag. To put it simply, his training session was not going quite as planned.

"I don't have anything else to do right now. I would rather be training than doing nothing."

"You could, I dunno, come hang out with us. I mean, when's the last time we all played a good video game? Or watched a movie? Or you could always go back to trying new recipes. Even playing with your falcon!" Cole listed, pacing back and forth as he did so.

"I… suppose. But what good would it do? You never know if Ninjago will be attacked again. We need to be prepared."

"Yeah, we do, but it doesn't do you any good to exhaust yourself with training either."

"But I'm not exhausting myself." Zane said simply. Without letting Cole respond, he turned around and began to re-set up the training equipment he'd knocked over in his morning clumsiness. Cole sighed and walked back to his spot by the door where he'd been watching Zane train. Though he wouldn't admit it, he couldn't find much he wanted to do either. At one point he even considered joining Zane, but dropped the idea quickly because he was tired.

There was a Serpentine attack last night in one of the villages near Ninjago City. He and the other ninja had been fighting until almost one in the morning. They didn't get home until almost two hours later, and at that point, most of them couldn't even get to sleep properly until maybe an hour before they would normally get up anyway. Naturally, this meant that most of everyone was still in bed. Everyone, that is, except for Zane and Cole. They'd been up a few hours, and were expecting that everyone else would be waking soon too, just as sore and as exhausted.

Zane's training went on the same way pretty much the rest of the morning. Slipping, tripping, overshooting, undershooting, and missing the targets in general. At this point, he'd become so frustrated at himself for not concentrating that he was too concentrated on trying to concentrate that he couldn't concentrate.

(If that even makes sense...)

Cole had eventually lost interest in watching and chatting with him and left to get some breakfast. Zane, of course, did not.

As another hour went by, Zane saw the rest of Destiny's Bounty's inhabitants pass by the door, sleepy eyed and yawning. Even by then, he'd not completed the move successfully.

"Move forward, stand straight, only put 85% power into the flip, don't forget to roll to the side…" He listed to himself as he prepared to reperform the move.

"What are you doing? It's almost noon, have you even eaten yet?" A voice said from the doorway. Zane stopped muttering and turned to see Kai, leaning against the door frame and giving him a confused look.

"No, I have not eaten anything. But once I am able to perform the move successfully…" Zane trailed off.

"From what Cole says, it sounds like you ought to just be done. Why are you even training today anyway?"

"I need to be prepared in case something happens. Another Serpentine attack, for example."

"Zane, it was a small band of rebel snakes still mad at the 'surface dwellers.' The rest of the Serpentine are peaceful. And besides, today's _supposed_ to be our day off. I don't want to see you over-exert yourself."

Zane paused for a moment. Then turned reluctantly back to the training equipment.

"I just need to get through this move is all. Then I'll take a break." He promised.

"Okay…" Kai fell quiet and watched Zane as he double checked the ropes holding up the sand bag.

"So what move exactly are you trying to do?" He asked after a moment.

Zane answered by backing up a few steps and running forward, before leaping into the air. He drew his arm back once more, and leaned forward into the flip. He stuck his feet out to hit the target boards on either side of him, then brought his arm down. Maybe he'd get it this time!

He hit the outer ring of the target on the ground, then began to lean into a shoulder roll.

As luck would have it, his hand got in the way on the ground and he rolled over it, halting himself mid-roll and rolling backwards. His first thought was to get out of the way of the sandbag and he stood up to do just that. But he was a little too slow. The bag began to fall, and he grabbed the other end of the rope to keep it from hitting the ground.

About 30 seconds later, Zane was on the floor underneath the sand bag, one leg caught in the other end of the rope, and Kai was stood in the corner of the room laughing and trying to apologize at the same time.

"Are you okay, Zane?" He asked between chuckles.

"Why would I not be?" Zane asked in all seriousness. No sarcasm lacing his voice at all.

He yanked an arm out from underneath himself and used it to push himself onto his side, effectively rolling the sandbag off of himself. He stood up and walked calmly to the pulley again, grabbing hold of the rope and giving it a good tug to upright the bag on the ground.

As soon as he started pulling to re-suspend it, he hissed and let go of the rope, the bag landing with a * _thump!*_

"Something wrong?" Kai asked.

Zane looked down at his hands in confusion. There were marks running across them, like a rope burn. Since when did such injuries leave marks on him?

He figured it was a false pain, nothing more than a memory of what it used to feel like. He was an android, after all.

"Nothing. I'm fine." He said. He grabbed the rope again, pulling on it and lifting the bag back into the air. He tied it tightly and ignored the slight throb of his hands.

Walking back to his starting spot, he prepared to attempt the move again. Kai sighed, watching him work.

Another ten minutes passed, and Kai watched as Zane messed something up on the same move almost a dozen times. Is this what he'd been doing all morning? For hours?

"Hey, Zane, why don't you just call it a day and come hang out with the rest of us?" He asked.

Zane almost chuckled. What Kai had said sounded somewhat reminiscent of what Cole had said earlier.

"I just need to get through this move. I promise I'll be done when it's completed successfully." He said, setting up the equipment for the umpteenth time.

"I'm worried you'll hurt yourself. It's bound to happen eventually."

"No kidding!" A third voice added from the doorway. Cole stood there once again, this time holding a half-eaten chocolate donut.

"I won't damage myself." Zane said confidently. He was careful and precise, there was no reason a bot like him couldn't get through such a simple move without getting hurt.

Before either of the two could say anything, Zane went immediately back to his spot, preparing once more to perform the move.

He did a short dash forward, leapt up, and drew his arm back, leaning forward slightly as he did so.

Just before he could flip, the alarms began to go off. Bright, flashing red and white lights, and a loud alarm that echoed around his head.

Kai and Cole ran out of the room without hesitation, the door slamming into the wall as they went. Zane, surprised by the noise, missed his chance to flip and flailed his arms as he fell straight down.

Unfortunately for him, he landed on his left side, arm folded under him. There was a sickening crunch and the screech of metal on metal as the shuriken he was holding was flipped inward toward his stomach.

He let out a grunt of pain and gasped. Sitting up, he was suddenly unable to keep hold of his shuriken, the weapon staying stuck in the wood. He looked at his hand, at his wrist, and flinched as he realized that it was _not_ supposed to look like that. There were several wires sticking out, and some of the metal had been torn through because of how far his hand had been bent inward, lying practically flat against his forearm. A few of the wires had been snapped in half and he could feel his whole arm tingle, almost going numb.

The alarms suddenly shut off and he could hear Jay down the hall yell, "False alarm!"

"Ah, really Jay?" Cole shouted. Zane could practically _feel_ Cole rolling his eyes and throwing his arms up.

"Let's go back and tell Zane. I don't know if he heard Jay." Kai's voice said. He sounded just as annoyed. Jay laughed nervously in the background.

"Yeah, whatever. Sensei wanted me to tell him that he needed to take a break and eat anyway." Cole agreed.

"Really?" Kai asked, sounding skeptical.

"Yes, really! Honestly, Zane's really mature and selfless and all, but sometimes he can be _so_ like a child. Sensei shouldn't have to send someone to remind him that he's supposed to eat."

"Wow…" Jay agreed.

"Hey! Don't think this conversation is over! 'False alarm…' Humph!" Cole grouched.

Their footsteps drew closer to the door and Zane almost panicked. If they knew he'd hurt himself, they'd freak out! And over something like the alarm? How could he let his guard down? If he'd been in battle, he'd likely be dead! He can't let something like the alarm startle him enough for him to be injured.

Looking around him, he saw his jacket, which he quickly leaned over to and grabbed. He pulled it quickly over his arms and used the sleeves to hide the wires sticking out. He could take care of it himself later.

Just as he was pulling the zipper up, Kai and Cole walked in, one after the other.

"Hey, Zane, it was just a false alarm. Nothing to worry about." Cole said. They froze when they saw him on the ground, now wearing a jacket and awkwardly holding his left arm.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Cole asked.

"I… thought we were going to have to go." He said, trying, barely convincingly, to explain the jacket.

"Oh. Okay. Well, we're not going anywhere. You got that move down?" Kai asked.

"No, not yet. But I was thinking that maybe I _should_ take a break." Zane replied distractedly. He looked to the side, avoiding their gazes.

"What happened to 'after I finish this move?'" Kai asked. Zane couldn't think of a proper response. He remained silent and pulled his arm in closer. Kai squinted his eyes.

"What are you hiding?" He asked without a second thought.

"I'm not hiding anything, Kai." Zane said. He began to grow nervous, afraid they'd find out about his wrist and turn it into a big deal. He hated being the center of attention when it came to being hurt. Whether it be emotionally or physically. If he was ever sad, he would only cry when he was alone. If he was ever injured, he would only treat it when he was alone. Or, now that he was a full-on android, he would only repair damage dealt him when he was alone. Very rarely did he like to depend on others. He didn't like showing his hurt.

"Like I'm going to believe that. Come on, Zane, I've known you for years. What's up?" Kai turned his head in curiosity.

"It doesn't matter."

"What? Of course it matters." Kai said, beginning to sound worried.

"Here, you know what, let's just go get some food, okay? Sensei's orders. We'll help you finish up this move later. And hey, maybe by then you'll be able to do it easy!" Cole said, breaking apart the argument before it could really start.

Kai nodded, but Zane shook his head.

"I'm not hungry." He said. He looked back down to the ground and remained sitting.

Kai sighed. He and Cole shared a look. After a moment, Kai thought of an idea and walked over to the ice ninja on the floor, offering him a hand.

"Come on, then. If you're not going to keep training, we can always find something else for you to do."

Zane looked at him, apparently not expecting to have been made such an offer.

"I suppose that would be wisest." He said, extending his uninjured hand and accepting Kai's.

Kai, however, surprised him by moving his hand out of the way and rushing to grab Zane's _other_ hand.

"Wha- Ow!" Zane yelped as Kai took firm hold of his wrist.

"Aha! 'It doesn't matter?' Really, Zane? What'cha do, sprain your wrist?" Kai exclaimed, shaking his head. He grabbed the sleeve of Zane's jacket and began to roll it up, revealing a wrist in a condition much worse than a sprain.

"Yikes! Zane, why didn't you say something?!" Kai knelt down by Zane, alarm and worry mixing very harshly in his voice. Cole ran over, a sort of curiosity showing in his movements.

"It's not that bad. I can take care of it." Zane said nonchalantly.

"What? Zane, it's _really_ bad!" Kai exclaimed.

"But it's-"

"You know what, don't even argue right now. Stand up, we need to get that wrist taken care of." Kai demanded. He sounded almost angry, but Zane knew he was just worrying.

Kai had been through enough in his short life, losing both parents and having to act as one for his sister. He was protective and fierce when it came to the physical and/or mental state of anyone even remotely close to him. And Zane, easily, was much, much more than 'remotely' close to him.

Zane reluctantly lifted his right hand up, Kai grabbing it and pulling him to his feet.

Now, what if I told you Zane's day was about to get worse? A lot worse? You thought that wrist was something, did you?

As Zane was pulled so quickly and suddenly to his feet, he surprised himself by letting out a sharp gasp, then a short cry. He surprised himself further when he found his legs buckling beneath him and he collapsed to the floor. He let go of Kai's hand and felt his arm move, on it's own, to his left side, which sent a shock of white hot pain throughout his abdomen.

"Zane!" Kai and Cole practically threw themselves into the floor at Zane's side, each grabbing under an arm and helping the fallen Nindroid to sit up properly.

Kai unzipped Zane's jacket and carefully pulled it off of him, then lifted up the left edge of his ninja gi. Underneath was a large gash going from the left of Zane's belly button and almost all the way around his waist and to his back. There were severed wires sticking out, some sparking occasionally, and the gash seemed to be much larger toward the front than the back. Even though there was no blood, it very definitely looked like an injury, and not a good one.

"You were keeping this quiet, too?! Zane, this is a lot more than just a broken wrist now!" Kai was on the verge of shouting. He was so worried he almost looked like he might _implode_.

"I didn't know…" Zane said honestly, albeit quietly. He grunted and moved his hand to cover the wound somewhat.

"Cole, go get Nya and Jay _now_."

Cole's face had gone pale and he stood up without a word, running to the door and down the hallway.

"Nya! Jay!" He could be heard shouting.

"Zane, what _happened?_ " Kai asked, this time far more gentle.

"I… I'm not sure. When the alarm went off, I guess I was just- just startled and I… landed unconventionally, on the left side of my body…" He explained.

"What caused the wound?"

Zane looked down at his left side, wincing when he saw how bad it was. He thought hard for a moment, then remembered.

"I was holding my shuriken. In my left I landed on my hand, I guess it just pointed the weapon in the wrong direction…" He trailed off.

Without saying anything, Kai stood up and walked over to the equipment scattered over the floor and looked for Zane's shuriken. It was, ironically, wedged smack-dead in the middle of the target on the floor. There was a point on it sticking up though, on which Kai found a small bit of blue wiring.

As he turned to face Zane again, Cole, Jay, and Nya came rushing into the room.

"What happened?" Nya demanded, immediately spotting a woozy-looking Zane on the floor, hugging his side. She walked over to him, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Bit of a story. Let's get him taken care of, first." Kai said, pulling out and holding up the shuriken for inspection. Nya watched him, somewhat horror struck. She turned back to Zane and began to inspect him.  
"Okay, Zane, can you stand up alright?" Nya asked. Despite being younger than all the ninja, Nya could be very motherly, and they all looked up to her in one way or another.

"I can stand up fine. I just need a hand." Zane said quietly.

Nya nodded and stood up, motioning for Jay to come over. He did so and offered the nindroid his hand. Zane accepted it and reluctantly pulled himself up, grunting as he did so.

"You okay?" Jay asked worriedly.

Zane opened his mouth to answer, preparing, once more, the words "I'm fine." However, he didn't get very far.

He stood up quickly and another wave of pain hit. He gasped and could feel his legs wobbling beneath him again.  
"Zane?" Jay asked.

"I-"

It all happened very fast. The corners of his vision started getting spotty and he became very dizzy. He was afraid of collapsing again, showing that kind of pain and inability to his friends. He turned around and desperately looked for something to steady himself as his vision continued to cloud over. A ringing started in his ears as he got dizzier and all the sounds around him began to drown out. He could vaguely hear his name being said and watched as blurry, colorful figures began to move very quickly. There was a lot of shouting and something grabbed onto his shoulders. He yelped in surprise and tried to get away. What grabbed him? He looked around and saw something brown and red standing in front of him. Who was it? What was it?! He tried to push away, unsuccessfully, and could feel himself start to panic. His spotty vision began to grow inward and all his vision went cloudy until he couldn't see anything at all.

The last thing he saw was something brown rushing up to meet him. The last thing he could feel was a wave a pain running through his side. The last thing he heard was his name.

* * *

 _Ow._

That was all that went through his head right now.

There was a dull throbbing in his side, pulsing and painful.

There was… light. Very, very bright light. He hadn't even opened his eyes all the way. Or had he?

He tested himself and opened his eyes fully, squinting and blinking as he adjusted to the bright light. He flexed his hands, wincing when he could feel how sore one of them was.

Groaning, he turned his head to the side and pushed himself up a little bit with his good hand.

"You're up!" Someone said. Zane turned his head toward the sound, at his left, and saw Kai sitting in a chair beside him.

Where was he exactly? He sat up more fully, muffling a grunt and looking around. He was in the spare room. They were originally going to use it for a guest bedroom, but it proved more useful for medical supplies and treating injured ninja.

Considering the immense pain in his side, Zane figured he probably fit into that category.

"How're you feeling?" Kai asked, pulling his chair closer.

"I'm fine." Was Zane's automatic response. It was almost reflexive for him to say the two words.

"You are not fine. I asked how you were feeling." Kai said.

"Then I 'feel' fine." He lied. Kai looked upset. Zane, in turn, felt bad about worrying him.

"I'm... alright." He said reluctantly. Kai looked skeptical but didn't say anything. His shoulders slumped and he looked worriedly at Zane.

"You don't have to be worried, Kai. There is no reason to be. It was a simple mistake and I have been damaged. It can be fixed and I'll be running properly again soon." Zane said. He hated that Kai was so worried. It was an unhealthy state to be in, and it certainly shouldn't have been over something like this.

"But I _am_ worried, Zane. You're hurt and I couldn't prevent it." Kai said.

"It was a mistake. Just an accident. A miscalculation. It was not preventable, no matter how you look at it and the damage is done either way. It's okay, though."

"How is it okay, Zane? These kinds of things take people a long time to heal."

"Yes. It would take you a long time to heal. But that is because you _are_ people. _You_ are human, whereas _I_ am just a robot-"

"NO! Zane, just NO! Don't even _start_ with that! You are _not_ _just a robot_!" Kai jumped up so quickly that his chair fell over backwards. Zane stared at him wide-eyed, surprised and almost scared.

"You are _not_ just a robot, Zane. It is not just 'damage.' You are not simply 'fixed,' or 'repaired.' It's not a 'miscalculation' or a 'mistake.' You are _not_ just a machine, and you don't purely run on electricity! You are _not_ just a robot. In fact, you're probably more human than the rest of us, and just because you found out you _were_ a robot, doesn't mean that's all you are _now_. Before you knew, you could feel pain, emotional and physical. You thought you were human. You acted human. You _were_ human. And you still are. You were built to be a companion. To be as human as possible. You were built so you _could_ feel pain, so you _could_ be injured, so you _could_ be upset! Even with your new titanium tricks, you're the same nindroid, same person, that has always been my brother, and it hurts to know that you treat yourself like a machine. We love you, Zane. We care for you. It's okay to be worried, and it's okay to let us know when you're hurt, because worrying over you is one of the greatest things we can do to show that we _care._ And you won't let us."

Kai finished his rant and left Zane in a stunned silence. Kai pulled the chair back onto all four of its legs and sat down with a sigh. He put his head in his hands and looked downward.

What he said had struck Zane. Was he really that human to them? He could remember back to when he _thought_ he was human. He sat there, going through his now jumbled thoughts, and thinking about every word Kai had said. That he wasn't just a machine. Had he really been that bad? Had he really begun to treat himself like a machine?

Zane looked at Kai and couldn't focus on anything but his expression. His eyes were downcast and he looked rejected. Worry and some form of sadness seemed so evident. How was he not letting them worry? Not letting them care for him? Kai was already worried over him, how would telling him about this damage, this _injury_ , make things any better?

He looked down at his hands. They were still rope burned. They were still… They still _hurt._ Just like Kai said. And his wrist. His side. It wasn't just the memory of pain. It wasn't him just remembering being human. He never was, except that… He always had been.

' _Worrying over you is one of the greatest things we can do to show that we care.'_

He remembered all the times that Kai had hugged him like the brother he was, or when Cole supported him after a bad fall. Jay had repaired broken wires and replaced gears countless times, and Nya was constantly bandaging his wounds, treating sprains and wrapping cuts.

They all helped him because they were worried. How could worry compel them to help? 'Worry' didn't sound right. Worry was troubling, stressful. _Why_ were they worried?

' _We love you, Zane. We care for you.'_

Zane's eyes widened in realization.

Kai still looked upset, he realized. Worried. Because he loved him?

"I'm gonna go get some lunch. Do you want anything?" Kai asked quietly. He _sounded_ unhappy, too.

Zane stayed silent. Kai sighed and turned sadly toward the door. Just as he reached the door frame, however,

"Kai?"

Kai stopped and turned around, hopeful.

"I- Um… I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Kai asked, tilting his head.

"I know I'm not just a robot." Zane said as Kai began to walk back over.

"I forget sometimes. I didn't want you to have to worry." Was all Zane could think to say.

"Oh. It's okay." Kai said, shrugging and sighing again. Just as he began to leave once more, Zane spoke up again.

"I feel… I mean… I-it actually still really hurts. I do not feel well."

To Zane's surprise, Kai's strong arms suddenly wrapped around him in a tight embrace. He held for just a second, then pulled back again, leaving his hands on Zane's shoulders.

"Thank you, Zane. I'm sorry. I know it can be hard to admit when you're hurt. I- heh- I had a really bad habit of that way back when. Is there anything I can get for you?" He asked gently.

Zane's eyes widened with curiosity and a little surprise. The 'habit' seemed to fit well with Kai's personality, but it just… hadn't occurred to the nindroid before.

"No, I'm-" Zane paused. He was going to say, 'I'm fine,' but changed his mind.

"Would you- would you mind grabbing a small blanket? And I suppose I am a little hungry." He admitted quietly, grabbing onto his arm as a shy habit of his own.

"Not a problem. You just relax." Kai said. He smiled, almost proudly, at Zane, then left the room.

A few minutes later, Kai came walking in with two steaming plates of fried rice and orange chicken, home-made by none other than Cole. It actually smelled and looked really good.

Setting the plates down, Kai turned around and walked right back out of the room. Zane stared after him in confusion for just a moment before Kai came stumbling back in with the largest, fluffiest blanket they owned. Without a word, he marched over to the flustered Zane and wrapped it around him. He pulled it, tucked it, and pat it every which way until Zane was nothing but a pile of fabric and a head. He barely even had enough room to stick his arms out so he could eat!

Kai turned around and pulled out a small collapsable work table, placing it directly in front of Zane. He grabbed one of the plates he'd brought in and set it on the table, then turned around and plopped back down into his seat, grabbing his own plate.

"Comfy?" He asked.

Zane retained a somewhat confused face, having just sat still and silently watching Kai work.

"Yes." He said slowly. Then he chuckled.

"Very." He looked at Kai and the two sat silent for a few seconds.

Then, this time surprising Kai, Zane began to laugh very heartily. It started with a chuckle, then began to grow, becoming louder periodically.

Kai joined in and the two laughed until they couldn't breathe any more, constantly having to take wheezy breaths or wipe away a stray tear.

As the laughter died down and faded into panting and faint chuckles, a contented aura filled the room.

* * *

The rest of the evening was filled with visiting ninja, two relieved Sensei, and a stubborn Kai, who refused to leave the room until Zane was ready to sleep. They reminisced old adventures and watched cheesy movies up to that point, when Zane's eyelids began to grow heavy, and his head to droop.

"You'll be alright tonight, Zane?" Kai asked, half out the doorway. Zane would be spending the night on the old couch tonight, despite his complaints.

"I'll be fine." Zane reassured. He'd been treated, fed, and fussed over all day. Now, he was just tired.

"Okay. Take it easy, alright?"

"I will, Kai. Don't worry." Zane shook his head. He smiled at Kai.

"Zane? Promise me something?" Kai paused a moment, his expression becoming somewhat pained again.

"Just don't forget. Don't forget that you're like us. That you're not a machine. Don't forget that it's okay for us to worry. Just remember… That you are as human as we are." Kai said.

After a small silence, Zane nodded.

"I promise. I won't forget. Never again."

Kai smiled.

"Good night, Zane."

"Good night, Kai."

The lights flickered off and Zane was left alone for the night.

He wouldn't forget. He would remember.

Zane is a nindroid. He is an android. He is a ninja. But he is not a robot, and he is not a machine.

Realization to all of this hit like a freight train, and it took a nearly fatal injury for him to find this new kind of trust in his brothers and to step beyond his own comfort zone. To realize that being hurt was okay, that worrying was okay.

And he never even realized that he'd begun to treat himself like a machine. He never realized that he was forgetting that once, he was human too. Even though he was an android then, too, he was human. That's what he and his brothers believed. That he was human.

That he _is_ …

Human.

* * *

PFFT! HA! Well there's cheesy, for ya! Oh, geez, that was a much gushier ending than I'd originally been shooting for. Not exactly the greatest flow, either. But hey! Here we are. Not all my one-shots will end like this. Many will be shorter, for one thing, and a lot will be closer to drabbles than short-stories. This one had a big lesson for one of the characters. I'm sure it could have been its own episode and everything! Anyway, there's my first one shot, a bit cheesy, and probably horribly written, but let me know what you think! And start sending in those requests! I won't take them all, but I really like being given one-shot prompts! Hope you enjoyed!

-LizzyLucky


	2. Bruises

Wow! I can't believe how popular my story already is! Nearly a dozen reviews, lots of compliments and requests and everything! Now, for once, I actually have some will to write, but the problem is that I'm just so busy at school and work and track meets, it's ridiculous! I don't always have a lot of writing time, and when I have time at home, I usually have to cook dinner for my 3 rowdy siblings or babysit them. That's not to mention piano practice, DeviantArt, or chores either. And oh yeah, let's not forget my dream chasing of becoming an actress in all three fields of voice-over, film, and theatre. Heck, don't even get me started on the house inspection we've been given one week to prepare for! Overall, I'm pretty busy, but I _am_ working on it. Anyway, this one-shot is for the guest who reviewed as "RandomPerson." I love your idea! For anyone who doesn't go through the reviews, the request was to do some kind of family bonding between Kai and Sensei Wu. Tech-Wu (season 3 corrupted Wu) hurt Kai and very nearly landed a serious blow. It was pretty clear during the scene that Kai was scared, and the idea here is that Kai is still very tentative of Wu after he's turned back, but Wu can't remember attacking him and doesn't know why. Altogether, he has to earn Kai's trust back, and Kai has to learn to be open about the situation with his Sensei. Now, sorry if this messes up the request, but I also added a little bit of my own. I also wanted to kind of look at how Kai deals with Zane's death, and since this whole thing with Tech-Wu happens just before said event, it seemed like good placing. If anyone wants me to delve into that even more, or with a different ninja, let me know! One last thing, I saw the battle scene between Kai and Wu recently, but I don't remember it exactly, and I forgot my write up of the dialogue somewhere else, so we're just gonna go with what I remember. I'm adding a few of my own bits anyway. Thanks again for that request!

-LizzyLucky

* * *

 **"** **We have to help Zane!"**

"Finally, something we agree on!"

Jay and Cole had been fighting all week. Since they discovered that Nya liked _both_ of them, they couldn't stop arguing over who would be with her. It was now, in the heat of the start of a battle, when they found a chance to agree on something. After Zane had given half his heart to Pixal, he'd lost his ability to do spinjitzu on his own.

Cole and Jay jumped down from the massive pile of junk and ran across the yard to protect their friend. As they ran over the trash compactor, the platform fell away and the two fell in.

"We're trapped!" Cole shouted.

"Augh, and with my own worst enemy!" Jay growled at Cole.

In turn, Cole *aggressively* huffed a breath at Jay, an ongoing sort of fight between the two.

Before they could really start to fight, someone began pressing buttons on the control panel, locking it and setting it to crush them.

"Ah! I'm too cute to be squashed!" Jay yelped. He and Cole automatically moved to the furthest walls and pushed to try and stop them.

"Someone stop this thing!" Cole called out.

From the battle between the rest of the ninja and the no-longer-fallen nindroids, Kai could hear Jay and Cole yelling. This time, though, it didn't sound like arguing.

"They're trapped!" He realized, spotting the working trash compactor. He turned back to the nindroid he had between his hands and kicked it away. He leapt off the small pile of trash he stood on and ran over to the two ninja in distress, kneeling down and peeking inside. The walls were closing in on them at a steady rate.

 _I'll get you guys out!_ He thought. He stood up and turned on his feet to run to the control panel, but was met with a very strange sight. In front of him stood an older man with a long, black beard, a black and purple outfit, a technologically advanced helmet of sorts, menacing red eyes, and a long staff glowing white and black. It was Sensei Wu!

"Sensei! What have they done to you?" Kai exclaimed worriedly. He stood to walk to Wu.

"Hiya!"

Before he could even tell what was happening, Wu's staff hit him hard in the side, sending him backwards a few feet. To stop the fall, he rolled backwards over his shoulder, landing on his back with a grunt.

 _The helmet's corrupting him!_

Kai stood up as quickly as his flustered mind would let him. His Sensei just _hit_ him!

Preparing to defend himself, he tightened his hold on his techno-blade. He didn't have the chance however, as the first thing he saw was Wu's foot, and he went flying across the junkyard with a swift kick to the gut. He landed _hard_ into a junk pile and saw Wu sprinting toward him for another hit.

What about Jay and Cole? They were literally going to get crushed!

"Nya! Find a way to shut down the junk compactor!" He turned his head to his sister, who was busy punching a nindroid.

"On it!" She yelled, throwing the nindroid to the ground and running to the compactor.

As he turned back to the battle, he was met with another hit to his side, sending him to the ground. That one _hurt_!

He jumped back up onto his feet and just barely managed to block Wu's next attack with the techno-blade, grunting at his Sensei's impressive strength.

Wu laughed and pressed harder, Kai's feet sliding through the dirt.

In the distance, Kai could hear Nya yell, "I can't override it!"

"No!" Kai yelled, letting his guard down as he looked toward the compactor.

"Yes!" Wu yelled. His voice was cold and cruel. It had a robotic quality to it, probably from the helmet.

Kai fell into the dirt as he was overpowered, almost dropping his blade in the process.

"Sensei, please!" He yelled desperately.

Wu ignored him, swinging his staff into Kai's back. Kai yelped and stood back up, trying to steel himself. He lifted up his techno-blade and swung back at Wu, blocking another attack. Part of him almost laughed; it was kind of like when he was training back in the start. He would be hit over and over again, and when he thought he got a hit in, all it did was block his Sensei's staff temporarily. Of course, when he was training, he actually got to the point where he could hold his own against Wu, and the hits never hurt _this_ much.

Wu drew his staff backward and pointed it straight, aiming to hit Kai in the chest. To Kai's luck, he managed to shoulder-roll out of the way just in time, coming up just behind Wu and hitting him in the back.

As his Sensei stumbled from the hit, Kai could have sworn he felt a wave of pain. Almost physical, and it wasn't from the staff. His chest grew tight as he realized that he just _hit_ his Sensei. Wu was the closest thing he'd had to a father since his own parents went missing when he was little.

Wu recovered quickly and spun around, stuff stuck out to hit Kai in the side. Kai jumped up and did a backflip, just barely dodging the staff. He threw his arms forward, the technoblade colliding with the staff. A small buzz went through his arms, just a tingling sensation, and he realized it was the staff. It wasn't just glowing white, it was emitting pulses of electricity!

He wriggled slightly as the sensation spread to his torso. (Ticklish Kai, anyone?) Suddenly, a much larger buzz of electricity flowed from the staff, quite literally shocking Kai and knocking him to the ground.

Dizzy, he lifted his techno-blade weakly above his head and felt the staff crash into it. His arm collapsed over his chest and he sat still for just a moment as he tried to gather himself together.

Wu laughed and revelled in his small victory for a few seconds, allowing Kai the time to jump to his feet and shake his head, effectively re-waking his senses. He quickly swung the techno-blade at Wu's staff, attempting to knock it away from him.

Wu growled, tightening his hold on the staff and swinging it back. He hit Kai's middle, and the ninja of fire went flying into another pile of junk. Kai realized it felt a lot more like a wall than a bunch of scrap, and turned around to see a resting jet leaned against the actual pile.

He shook his head again and turned back to his fight, knowing that even a second of distraction could mean a serious blow from none other than Sensei Wu himself.

Kai's eyes widened and he scrambled to the side as quickly as he could. Wu was a good ten or fifteen feet in the air and had his staff angled down directly where Kai had been sitting. The staff hit the ground so hard that it was embedded by almost a _foot_.

That could have _killed_ Kai!

Before being yanked back up, several pulses of electricity shot through the staff and into the jet, which powered up and took off into the sky, almost directly up. Kai swallowed hard and grabbed hold of his weapon once more. Just as he got back onto his feet, Wu was back in his face with the staff. For a good thirty-something seconds, they were locked in a stalemate, weapons practically welded together as they pushed back and forth against each other. Kai, however, was losing his footing fast. Wu was a very strong person, and especially with this enhanced technology and the electricity flowing through his body, he was too strong for Kai.

Kai grunted as his legs began shaking. He pushed with all his might, feeling another pang in his chest as he could see his Sensei struggling.

For just a second, he could have sworn he could see through the red in his Sensei's eyes. He thought, for just a _second_ , that he could see Wu's kindness and fatherly-love for his student.

But then it was gone. Kai had unconsciously loosened his hold and he was shoved backwards so harshly that his vision went blurry when his head hit the ground. He groaned and pushed himself up weakly, only to receive another hit to the side, even harder than before, and sending him flying into the wall of the junk yard. His head was pounding and he dropped his techno-blade as he hit the wall.

He tried to sit up to watch his Sensei, seeing, instead, _four_ Senseis, each turning around each other.

As his vision cleared and he regained himself, he realized that he was no longer holding his weapon. Wu, also, was running towards him at an impressive rate.

As Wu drew closer, Kai leaned down to grab his techno-blade. He brought it up in front of him just in time, blocking a whack from Wu's staff. He pushed back and Wu stumbled a few steps.

The old master retaliated quickly, though, and began to attack rapidly, one hit after another without pause.

Kai grunted and held his weapon as steadily as he could, but his stamina was draining. With each hit, his arm faltered a little more, and the rush of wind from the swipe would grow closer to his face.

It went on until, at last, he collapsed. Wu hit his blade away and rose his staff above his head, prepared to hit Kai.

And Kai was terrified. Horror-struck, he watched as his Sensei's cruel red eyes darkened, and how unforgiving and relentless they were. Sensei Wu wasn't there. Anything he thought he'd seen before was gone, and as Kai backed into the wall, blocked in at both sides, he could feel yet another wave of pain travel through his chest. This was not Sensei Wu!

Kai stood up, flattening himself against the wall as much as his own body would, and as Wu's gaze continued to harden and turn into somebody else's, Kai cried out and used his arms to protect himself.

It was such a pitiful cry, a whimper almost, and Kai had somewhat hoped it would be like those movies and be enough to shake Wu out of his trance because of his love for his student. But it wasn't, and Wu's gaze was now, more than ever, cold and cruel.

To the red Ninja's _immense_ relief, in more ways than one, he heard Jay's voice.

"Sensei Wu!"

Wu turned towards the voice, buying Kai a little time.

"What happened to him?" Cole cried in alarm.

"He's turned evil!" Kai shouted back. Then, more distressed, "HELP ME!"

He rolled under Wu's arm and grabbed his techno-blade.

"But- But he's Sensei!" Cole exclaimed.

Kai rolled onto his back and blocked another hit from Wu's staff.

"Not any more." He replied solemnly.

"Ugh! More like Tech-Wu!" Jay shouted suddenly, gripping his weapon. Cole charged at Wu, quickly followed by Jay.

Just as Cole prepared to strike, Wu's staff hit him smack dead in the middle of his face and he fell down with a grunt.

"Ha! Okay, I hate to say it, but you deserved that _a little!_ " Jay paused his own attack to laugh.

Before Cole could respond, Jay was gut punched with the end of the staff. He yelped and hugged his middle, groaning.

"Ha! Right back at'cha!" Cole retorted, sitting up.

Frustrated with their day's antics, Nya took charge and shot between them, sliding down to kick Sensei Wu off his feet.

"Oh, I'll handle this!" She growled.

Wu was too quick for her, however, and jumped up out of the way. Nya saw this and kicked herself back up onto her feet as quickly as she could, swinging around to punch Wu.

Wu simply dodged and let her fling herself into the pile of junk behind him. She stumbled forward, almost tripping over her own feet. She slammed into a broken down mech, which Wu wasted no time in powering up. He directed pulses of energy to the mech's arms, which wrapped around Nya and trapped her there.

"Nya!" Kai turned toward Cole and Jay for help. They stood up to rush to her rescue, but were stopped by Wu, who pushed Kai to the side and ran off.

"Don't let him get away!" Kai shouted, standing up and chasing after him. Jay and Cole gave Nya a glance, then joined Kai.

Wu had run up a large converter belt, stopping at the top to watch them chase him.

As the three ninja began their climb up the belt, Wu dug his staff into the ground and powered it up, not only turning it on, but speeding it up at the same time. It rapidly gained speed, until the ninja were flailing their arms, trying to keep up. Kai, who was in the front of the little group, tripped and crashed into the other two. In one glorious crash, they fell down, the techno-blades flew up, and the ninja were shot away from Wu, leaving their weapons for the taking.

Now in a heap at the bottom of the conveyer belt, the ninja watched helplessly as their Sensei laughed a laugh not his own and walked to their fallen weapons. Just as he bent down to pick them up, a large magnetized vehicle rolled up and over the hill, drawing Wu's attention. And inside of it was none other than Zane and Pixal!

"Zane!"

 _Man am I glad to see you, buddy! And in one piece, too!_ Kai thought.

As glad as the three ninja on the ground were, Zane actually looked a little down.

"Sorry, Sensei." He said with a frown.

Zane powered up the machine, which yanked the techno-blades, and Wu's staff, to the giant magnet. Wu, being corrupted as such, refused to let go of his staff and went flying up with it.

And thus ended the battle with Tech-Wu.

* * *

One week later, and things couldn't be more bitter-sweet. After the battle with Wu, the crew went to meet up with Cyrus-Borg, reuniting Pixal with her creator. Together, the two were able to use some of their most recent technology, in which a video-game player could be virtually transported to the digital world with a digital body, to transport the Ninja to a world where they could physically fight the Overlord. With a little imagination, literally, they managed to close down the system, which halted the body-building process of the Overlord. Lloyd was released, the nindroids retreated, and Wu was returned to normal. Things seemed to be going well until they discovered that they were too late.

The Overlord had a physical body, and a project in space, where the golden weapons were located. The nindroids managed to get to said golden weapons, and forged an armor for the Overlord, which would kill anyo ne who came in contact with it. Anyone, that is, except for the Overlord himself. It was the ultimate protection.

The ninja fought with their all, the battle shifting back and forth between good and evil. Ultimately, their master plan for victory had been a failure, and they were overwhelmed.

Finally, it got to the point where all the team had been captured except one; Zane. And, to both their horror and their relief, Zane had the perfect plan to defeat the Overlord once and for all.

Sacrifice _himself_.

Kai had watched in utter horror as their bravest and most unique member began to glow, refusing to let go of the golden armour or halt the flow of his ice beam toward the Overlord. He watched Zane exhaust himself with the over-use of his elemental powers, while at the same being overloaded with electricity.

He watched, _helplessly_ , as _their_ Nindroid overloaded his _own_ heart, used up his _own_ power, and saved the entirety of Ninjago and beyond in one swift move.

He waited with dread as he was ordered to move to cover and heard the explosion outside, the defeat of two of the most powerful people Ninjago had ever seen.

And he cried as the team discovered nothing more than ice and half of a face-plate.

He faltered when he delivered his speech at the memorial site, dedicating a hard worked on and well built titanium statue of and for Zane.

Now, the entire team was numb. The defeat of the greatest threat to their city, but the loss of their greatest hero and friend. Of their brother.

And things were just getting worse. Ninjago, though now safe, was moving on. Life had to continue forward. The city had to be rebuilt, people had to be entertained, and the ninja had to find other things to do. If ninja were un-needed before, they were even _more_ un-needed now.

Now, the ninja spent almost the entirety of their day wandering the Bounty, playing video games, pointlessly training, looking for jobs in phone books.

It was on one of these days that Kai found himself going through old books. They didn't have very many, and most of them were either Zane's or Wu's. At the moment, he was going through, just like all those cheesy movies, a scrapbook filled with old pictures of the ninja. For him, it was solace. It made him smile, remembering times that he had laughed with someone he'd been so fond of.

He flipped a page and came to a photo from a few months before the Overlord made a comeback. Kai was the one holding the camera, so he was at the corner, grinning and making a peace sign with his fingers. Jay and Cole were bent over in laughter, a hand on each other's back. They were behind Kai in the picture. On the other side of the frame, Nya was stood perfectly straight, a massive grin on her face, and trying to cover a giggle with her hand. In front of her stood a teenaged Lloyd, back to the camera and holding a frosting covered plate, just busting with laughter. Standing in front of him, and smack center of the photo, was an absolutely shocked Zane, cake plastered to his face and confetti decorating his platinum blond hair. That was the time they decided to throw a surprise party for Zane's birthday. To say the least, he was _very_ surprised.

Kai chuckled fondly at the memory. Then he frowned and sighed. That was the last time they would ever be able to celebrate Zane's birthday with… Well, with Zane. They would never be able to do that again. Actually, they would never be able to do _anything_ with Zane again.

Kai closed the book, not wanting to think about it again. Not wanting to think about how Zane wouldn't be coming back.

"Kai? What are doing all by yourself?" Sensei Wu walked into the room. Kai jumped and slammed the book shut.

"Nothing!" He said quickly.

"Is something wrong?" Wu asked. He turned his head at Kai, curiosity in his voice.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine." Kai replied, standing up and replacing the book.

Choosing not to push, Wu stepped out of the way and watched Kai walk quickly out of the room without saying a word.

Kai, in his rush, bumped into Nya, who was directly outside in the hallway.

"Hey, Kai. Is something wrong?" She asked, nearly dropping an armful of laundry. Kai shook his head at Wu's repeated words and sighed.  
"I'm fine." He took off at a brisk walk down the hall, headed toward the deck. Nya watched him in confusion. He seemed tense, and his eyes appeared to speak 'borderline-panic.' She turned towards the door where Kai had walked from. Wu walked out and joined her in the hallway.

He hummed, placing his hands behind his back the way he did when he was thinking.

"I worry about him." Nya said.

"As do I. Did something happen?"

"Aside from losing Zane?" She asked rhetorically. The entire team had taken that one pretty hard. Their personalities were all a little bit scrambled after the mind-numbing experience of watching their brother literally explode.

"Point taken." Wu responded, half amused. He could see how much of an effect the loss of their Nindroid had been. Kai had seen Zane as both a younger _and_ an older brother. The ice ninja had many ways of being both to all of the younger members of Destiny's Bounty.

"I think he just doesn't know what to do with himself right now, ya know? He's always protected me, since the day our parents went missing, but he's never had anyone or anything to look up to except old memories of our parents. Then when he joined the team, he had three new brothers that he could both protect and be protected by. Since that day, he's always found a way to keep everyone he's cared for, or grown to care for, safe, or found a way to rescue them when they weren't. He's always seen his friends and family returned to him safely. And this time, he wasn't able to protect Zane. This time, Zane won't be returning to him safely. It just reminds him of how he was powerless, too young to understand or even remember at this point, to do anything for our parents." Nya explained.

"I see." Wu said, acknowledging her. He shook his head softly and turned to walk away.

"But…" Nya started. Wu paused to look at her.

"I'm not sure that's what it is. I mean, he's definitely going through those motions, but there's something else off about him, and I don't know what." She said. Her gaze remained on the shadow of her brother's quick exit, and she could feel her shoulders slump. Wu noticed this and placed a comforting shoulder on her hand.

"He is growing apart from _all_ of us. But that does not mean he has grown to stop caring." He said simply. Nya turned to look at him and smiled gratefully, before turning back to her own task. She walked down the hallway distractedly, turning a corner and disappearing from sight. The fabric in her arms trailed after her.

Wu sighed and turned the opposite direction, thinking to himself. Nya was right; there was something else off about Kai. Her description of what he may have been going through seemed accurate, but he showed a different kind of bitterness besides. One both unidentifiable and familiar at the same time. He was, indeed, growing apart from his friends.

* * *

Kai huffed. He was frustrated with himself. And he was very unsure of what exactly he was feeling. He should have been relieved over Wu being returned to normal, and he was, but it didn't feel the same anymore. And it really didn't help that Zane had off and left them like that. He was sad at first, then he was numb in addition. Now he was just confused. He kind of wanted to be mad at Zane for leaving, but whenever he went to get his anger out, he ended up crying like a baby instead. And he felt like there was no one he could really go to for closure. Normally he would have gone to Sensei Wu. Wu was logical and wise. He had very good ways of comforting those who needed it, and he was the closest thing Kai had had to a father. It was rare for Kai to trust someone like that so easily, which was part of why they shared such a relationship.

But something was different now. After seeing those red eyes glaring at him… How relentless his Sensei was. How many times that he hit or kicked, and how _hard_ , too. Kai now had several, big, legitimate bruises on his side and back, all yellow and purple and blue.

And to further it, he couldn't do anything about it. He pleaded with Wu, he tried, on some level, to get him back. And it didn't work. Wu didn't change back to himself or soften. He never hesitated or lightened his blows. It was just hit after hit, nothing but hatred in his eyes and his movements.

There was _no way_ that any kind of technology could be that powerful as to completely block out a person's character.

Could it?

Kai ran a hand through his hair and leaned up against the railing of the deck. He sighed heavily and looked up to the sky. It was white. Nothing but clouds. It was simple and matched his mood. It was also kind of… dreary. Yet it was also really mesmerizing to look at. He liked this kind of weather, when the air was humid and cool, and the sky was white. It kind of reminded him of Zane.

Closing his eyes and creasing his eyebrows sadly, he looked down. This time, he was met by the deep blue of the ocean and his own reflection. There were bags under his eyes, and his hair was more ruffled than usual.

He refocused his eyes, looking underneath the surface and past his reflection. It was just… blue. It seemed to go on forever, and he could see little bits of seaweed floating in the water. It was clear, but it also seemed murky at the same time.

For just a moment, he found himself growing excited. This was a very healthy area of water. It was a good spot to practice water meditation, or holding one's breath! Maybe Zane could break his record again and-

But Zane wasn't here.

Kai put his hands to the sides of his head and whipped around on his feet, screaming frustratedly into the plain of day.

Almost immediately, he bumped into another person. He blinked in surprise as he met the wise eyes of Wu.

"Kai." Wu nodded in greeting.

"May I speak with you?" He asked.

"No offence, Sensei, but I'm busy." Kai said, side-stepping quickly to go around Wu. Wu, however, would not have it. He stuck his staff straight out and spun around to stand behind it, meeting Kai face to face.

"I- do you mind?"

Kai tried to sidestep the other way but was met with the same reaction.

"Did you need something?" Kai asked, this time sounding more uncomfortable than grumpy. He took a small step away from Wu and put his hands down in a more respectful manner. Almost submissive.

Wu was somewhat surprised. He rested his arm at his side and looked curiously at Kai.

"You have not been yourself. What troubles you?"

Kai knew it wasn't worth telling him 'nothing,' but didn't really know what to say.

"I'm just trying to deal with Zane's death." He tried.

"Yes, I know. But that is not what I speak of. You have been bitter."

Kai sighed and looked down, his shoulders slumping. He looked up at Wu without moving his head.

"Forgive me- uh, Sensei. I didn't mean to be bitter or anything. I'm just tired." He said.

"Walk with me." Wu said, gesturing with his staff for Kai to follow. He turned around and began to stroll at a slow pace, Kai scrambling to get to his spot beside him. There wasn't tons of space to walk really; just the deck, maybe the halls or the stairs.

"Did I do something wrong?" Kai asked, somewhat fearful.

"No. As a matter of fact, I was going to ask you the very same thing. Have _I_ done anything wrong?"  
Kai looked to the ground, remembering the battle between he and Wu. He knew that Wu had no control over what he was doing, and he knew that Wu couldn't really remember any of what he had done either. Wu had done nothing wrong. But Tech-Wu… Whoever it was that had been controlling him… _He_ had done something wrong, and used Wu to do it.

"No. Nothing wrong."

"You have become weary." Wu pointed out. Kai had been sounding as tired as he looked more and more lately, and he was distancing himself from his teammates.

"I said that I'm just tired. I need to get my mind off things." Kai was beginning to sound anxious. He turned around on his heel and pointed himself toward the training equipment.

"If you need to train, you may spar with me." Wu said, doing a massive double flip over Kai's head and landing in front of him.

Kai flinched and turned around again.

"I'm good, thanks."

Wu was about to stop him again, but was interrupted when Nya opened the door to the deck.

"Kai! Come look at this!" She said excitedly.

"What is it?" He asked her, running, almost too eagerly, to meet her. Wu could see Kai's shoulders visibly relax, and Kai seemed to sigh with relief.

Kai looked over his shoulder at Sensei Wu. His expression was unreadable, but held some form of guilt. He turned quickly back to Nya and the two walked through the door, Nya explaining something to him excitedly.

As it would happen, Nya had found out that Jay's proposal for a new game show, hosted by he himself, had been accepted and boomed over night. The show looking for Ninjago's next big hero was a hit, and in less than a month, he gained enough publicity for his show to be the cover of one of Nya's favourite magazine subscriptions, which is how she found out about it in the first place. She was so excited for him that she just _had_ to tell someone, and her brother was the first person she thought of.

As exciting as it was, though, Wu was still concerned. Over the following few days, Kai had become even more distant. He was jumpier and more on edge, but he was also quieter and more respectful. Kai did this more than any of the other ninja, and it wasn't healthy for him.

It wasn't until about two weeks later that Wu realized something far more crucial.

Kai only reacted in these ways towards _him_. He became more protective of Nya, and always seemed to be in a rush to do something else that didn't involve his Sensei. There was always some kind of excuse. But when Kai was on his own, Wu would notice him simply staring off into space. He had begun to lose interest in finding a job, or doing anything for that matter. Wu understood that this was a common reaction for people after losing someone they were close to, but it seemed at the same time that Kai was already moving on from the event. And from the way Kai acted around him, Wu suspected it may not even have as much to do with Zane anymore.

Like most days, the first thing Kai did after eating breakfast this day was retreat to the deck. He trained viciously for a little while, leaving new marks on the equipment as he had done the day before. After a solid hour or two of training, he would be walking to the rail and staring over the edge. He would look at the sky, or at the horizon, or the snow-tipped mountains, or Ninjago, the water (if they were sailing), his hands, even the wood itself. Just anything. He always made it clear he still missed Zane, but he wouldn't talk to anyone about it. He wouldn't confide in anyone or be a companion to anyone in any way.

Today, Wu was intending on changing this pattern.

As Kai was beginning to get to the point of needing a break, wiping his brow and picking up his hand-towel and water-bottle, Wu made his move. He had been watching from the shadows just inside the doorway, and was just now stepping out. Quietly, he approached Kai, who was making his way to the rail, and cleared his throat.

He almost had to chuckle. Kai's shoulders bounced and the ninja whipped around with a yelp of surprise. It was very much like how it used to be, when Kai didn't know Wu very well.

"Oh." Kai sighed, seeing Wu.

"Morning, Sensei." He greeted automatically.

"Morning, indeed." Wu nodded.

"I was just… training." Kai said awkwardly, walking away from the rail.

"I could tell. What, may I ask, were you training for?"

Kai paused and bent down to pick up a target board.

"Uh… I don't know. Just in case there's an attack or… something." Kai flipped the board up in the air and caught it again, then carried it over to one of the wooden posts, on which was a hook to hang the board. He slid the board on and straightened it before putting his hands on his hips to study it. Naturally, it wasn't actually on straight and it fell off. He leaned down to pick it up once more.

"Something, perhaps, like this?"

"Huh?" Kai stood up with the board in hand and turned around to ask what Wu meant, but instead saw Wu's staff flying in his direction like an arrow.

"WOAH!" He yelped and ducked behind the board, which the staff bounced off of, flipping around and landing in Wu's hand.

"Sensei, I meant- ACK!" Wu swiped his staff directly downwards and into the target board, Kai hiding further behind it.

"You have trained for many days now. This, is a test." Wu said. He stood up straight and placed one arm behind his back, using the other to whack at Kai's legs, which went flying from underneath the flustered ninja, who then fell onto his back.

"A- oof!- a test?!" Kai looked up from behind his makeshift shield and blocked another swing from Wu.

"You heard me correctly, Kai. Now, up!"

Now that Kai was fully alert, the oncoming swing to his side had no effect, as he rolled quickly to the side and back onto his feet.

"Good. Defend yourself!" Wu said firmly. He wedged his staff underneath a wooden sword used for sparring and flung it into the air, hitting it forward as it fell, and at Kai, who barely managed to catch it.

Wu spun around and kicked at Kai, who jumped to the side and out of the way. Wu, having seen this already, began to spin the other way, and brought his staff out to hit Kai in the back. Kai leapt up and used one of the wooden posts' protruding arms as a foot stool to launch himself into a backflip, effectively dodging a double swing from Wu.

"Very good!" Wu praised.

Kai landed steadily on his feet and smirked proudly to himself. He puffed out his chest and held his sword high.

"But arrogance will get you killed." Wu said, swiping his staff under Kai's feet once more. Kai fell this time onto his front, and the board he'd been using fell from his arm and bounced, then rolled, away.

"Oops…" Kai groaned, rolling off to the side again.

By this time, he'd gone into auto-pilot. This was something he'd done many times before. He'd sparred with his brothers and with Sensei Wu, and he'd been in battle with more than he could count. It was reflexive for him as a ninja, and sometimes even kind of fun.

Wu pointed his staff straight and jabbed it out at Kai, watching as the ninja changed the direction of his roll and went backwards over his head to evade another hit.

"Ha!" Kai cheered, jumping into another post and flipping over Wu, landing directly behind him.

Wu spun around and threw his staff into Kai's sword, and the two pressed back and forth for a moment.

Unlike the last time the two battled, Kai was stronger this time, and pressed Wu backward.

Wu stumbled a few feet and put a hand to his head.

"Sensei? Are you okay?" Kai asked, putting his arm down. He stepped towards Wu and stretched out his arm.

Wu spun around very suddenly, surprising Kai. Kai fell backwards and dropped his sword. He shook his head rapidly. Looking back up at Wu, he gasped sharply. Wu's eyes were a piercing, glowing, red.

"No!" He yelped. His mind flashed back to the battle in the junkyard, Wu's evil red eyes, hard and emotionless, staring into his own. His chest twinged again with pain, re-seeing how uncaring Wu was, how he was unable to change him back.

Kai closed his eyes hard and gritted his teeth. He shook his head again and opened his eyes to find Wu's staff swinging in his direction.

 _Not again!_ He thought with panic. He pushed himself to the side to avoid the attack, then jumped up to his feet. He looked at Wu and realized... his eyes weren't even remotely red. Had he imagined it?

"No, what?" Wu asked, stepping forward and swinging his staff again, which Kai ducked under.

Kai was going to say something, but couldn't make his mouth open. His heart rate quickened and he focused in on his Sensei's eyes. As much as he had wanted to see Wu somewhere in those red eyes before, he feared seeing red in his Sensei's eyes now.

Wu swung his staff once more, this time more quickly. Kai couldn't picture anything except for the way that Wu had hit him the last time they battled. His side ached at the memory, and his mind flashed blank for a fraction of a second. A flash of Tech-Wu zipped across his vision and he panicked, reaching behind him for something to grab onto. Unlike the junkyard, there wasn't a piece of scrap metal or an old pipe and his hand fell away, his entire body falling with it.

Wu jabbed at his left side, then at his right, barely missing each as Kai twisted on the ground.

His mind flashed again, and all he could see was Tech-Wu diving at him with his electronically enhanced staff, which he barely got out of the way of. That was a potentially fatal move!

Kai's breathing became heavy as the memories rocketed through his mind, each near-hit from his Sensei sending him closer to the edge of the deck, as well as to the edge of utter panic.

Wu said something, but Kai couldn't understand it. Flashes of Tech-Wu sped back and forth, and the clangs of weapons echoed in his ear. His senses zipped back and forth between the junkyard and the deck of Destiny's Bounty like lightning, and Kai could feel his heart-rate increase rapidly.

He suddenly came in contact with the rail on the opposite side of the deck and looked up to see Wu raise his staff directly above his head, prepared to strike. The _exact_ same way he had in the junkyard. Kai was defenceless, without the help of his friends, and unable to move out of the way.

He wrapped himself into a little ball, arms around his head, and let out a half-yelp, half-sob. He waited for the blow, but it didn't come.

As he realized he was still in one piece, the flashes settled. His anxiety, however, did not.

"Kai? Are you alright?" It sounded more like a statement than a question.

Kai peeked through his arms to see an extremely concerned looking Sensei Wu knelt by his side. Just _looking_ at Wu brought another flash of memory across his mind.

Kai shook his head and pushed himself away from the ground, turning and running towards the door inside without a word.

"Oh, dear." Wu said worriedly. He stood up slowly and walked to the door, stopping to pull the lever which would shut down the training equipment.

As he walked inside, he decided he'd best confront Nya first. He wasn't certain what had happened, exactly, only that Kai had been afraid of him, quickly transitioning from level-headed to panicked.

Following the hallways, he came to Nya's room and knocked softly with his staff.

There was a * _thump!_ * followed by a squeak and the pounding of feet.

A moment later, the door creaked open and Nya stepped into view, half the front of her shirt soaking wet. She held an empty glass in her hard.

"Forgive me, Nya. I was wondering if I could speak with you a few moments?" He asked, his voice apologetic. He looked sympathetically, almost amusedly, at the glass in her hand.  
Noticing his gaze, she said, "It's fine. Just water. What did you want to talk about?" She turned and placed the glass down on a table behind her.

"I've just had a very interesting training session with your brother, and his altered behavior toward the situation has me concerned.".

"Uh oh. What did he do?" Nya stepped forward and closed her door behind her.

"My intent was to discover the reason behind his recent odd behavior, but I believe I have only made the situation worse. I challenged him and he sparred with me confidently. After a few minutes, however, he began to act strangely." Wu explained.

"Strangely, how?" Nya looked at him quizzically.

"He lost his footing and his movements became clumsier. He began reacting as though he could not hear me, and he appeared to be unaware of his surroundings."

"That doesn't sound good." Nya sighed, putting a hand to her chin. Her expression switched to complexed, and she looked like she was thinking.

"What worries me most is that as our session progressed, he began to look and sound genuinely afraid."

"Afraid? Like, afraid he would lose the fight or something?" Nya turned her head at him.

"No. I believe his fear may have been directed toward _me_."

Nya's face slowly dawned with realization.

" _Oh…_ " She said, dropping her arm.

"Do you know why?" Wu asked, noticing and finding himself become curious.

"I think I do, actually. Do you remember when you were… When you were captured? And questioned about the techno-blades?" Nya asked.

"Yes…" Wu said slowly.

"What about when you were… Uh, how do I say it without sounding childish? Do you remember when you were helmeted with this sort of mind-control device?"

"Mind-control device? I can recall being helmeted, and Garmadon has explained to me that I had been under the control of the Overlord, but I cannot remember the time during which I was under that power."

"That would explain a lot. When we first discovered that you were being controlled, you were in battle with Kai. You basically had him cornered, and you had knocked away his techno-blade. I didn't really see any of the rest of your battle, but Kai seemed pretty freaked out, seeing as how he was defenceless and you were ready to deliver the final blow."

"That _does_ explain a lot." Wu said, stroking his beard in thought. His concerned expression was enough to tell Nya how badly he felt about the situation.

"Thank you, Nya." Wu said, straightening himself.

"Of course. And… If it helps at all, he hasn't really told me any of this stuff either."

Wu smiled gently at her and nodded. Silently, he turned and walked down the hall, leaving Nya to her own thoughts.

* * *

Kai had retreated to his own room. It used to be shared between he and the other four ninja, but now it was only really used by he and Lloyd, who was gone most of the time anyway. The other ninja had found jobs. Jay had his own little trailer for his show, which he used as a living space. Cole had moved back in with his dad. And Zane was… Well…

Why was he thinking about this kind of stuff?! It was enough that he'd just broken down in front of his own Sensei; he didn't need to be thinking about the _rest_ of his broken family, too!

He honestly felt like a child. He was on his bed, leaned up against the headboard and underneath his bed-spread like he was in a little tent. He had his legs pulled up to his chest and he had been zoned out for a good while. After his episode, he ran all the way here and tried to find something to distract himself. He was in such a frenzy that he wasn't even fully conscious of what he was doing until now. He was underneath his blanket, and he realized that there were books and scrolls scattered on the floor, some opened up to sentimental photos, and others to prophesies he'd been able to live out. His head hurt, too, probably from how he'd been squeezing it in an attempt to make the memories stop flashing across his mind.

As he tried to gather his scattered thoughts together, he heard the door to his room open. He held his breath and kept still, the way he would as child, as though it would make him invisible.

"Kai? May I speak with you?"

It was Sensei Wu. How many times exactly had Wu asked him that same question in the last month? He wasn't sure, but it was too many.  
"Are you alright?"

He'd been asked that a lot of times, too.

"I'm fine." He answered automatically. He did _not_ feel like sharing.

"One who rocks back and forth beneath a blanket is not 'fine.'" Wu said pointedly.

Is that what he had been doing?

Kai could feel the bed shift as Wu sat down.

"It's not any of your business!" He snapped. He lifted the blanket and threw it behind his head. Moving so he was sitting cross-legged, he folded his arms and glared at Wu.

"Then what about the battle in the junkyard?"

Kai's eyes widened slightly before settling back into a glare.

" _Nya._ " He grumbled.

"Yes, she was my source. What happened that day?" Wu asked. He rested his hands on his lap.

"It's not important."

"If it is not important, then there should be no reason you cannot tell me." Wu reasoned.

"I don't feel like talking about it!"

Kai turned his head away from Wu's gaze. He couldn't think of any good arguments and was beginning to grow nervous again.

Wu was trying to think of something else to say when Nya came running through the door.

"Terrorist attack in Ninjago City!" She said, waving her arms toward the door.

"Where?" Kai asked immediately, jumping up from the bed, a sort of 'saved by the bell' moment.

"By the bank. Lloyd's already there, but he's outnumbered. Hurry!" She explained quickly.

Kai ran out the door and down the hall, Nya quickly following.

Wu was left sitting on Kai's bed. He watched the two rush out of the room and sighed to himself. Pondering it for a moment, he decided he would go with Kai. He would help protect the people, and hopefully discover a little more about what Kai was going through.

Walking casually down the hallway, he eventually caught up to the other two in the central room, where Nya was explaining the situation to Kai. He stopped at the back of the room to listen.

"...only 7 of them, thank heavens, but it sounds like the explosive devices they claim to have aren't imaginary. There are massive pulses of stored energy popping up around some of the most populated areas of the city, and it's enough to get a lot more than the single block they said they could destroy. They're all interconnected, so you would have to shut them down at the source. Even if you managed to shut down one or two individually, the rest would still be connected, so it wouldn't work. You have to shut them _all_ down, all at once, and as quickly as you can. We're talking several hundred lives at stake!"

"If that is the case, we must waste no time." Wu said suddenly.

"You're going too?" Kai asked, turning around to look at him.

"I may not be as young as I once was, but I can still buy you time."

"Perfect! The more, the merrier! Well, as merry as you can get for a terrorist attack. Let's go!" Nya said. She turned on her heel and leapt to the controls, turning on the engines, then the boosters. The ship started up with a jolt, Kai almost losing his balance.

"Are any of the other ninja available?" Wu asked. This was not a battle they could afford to lose, no matter how much smaller it was next to their past experiences.

"No. I couldn't get ahold of any of them. They may have heard about it, but I don't honestly think any of the others will be there." Nya answered. She turned sharply to the left and the whole ship tilted slightly as the boosters continued to speed them up.

"Kai." Wu walked to the red ninja. Kai turned around and gave him an anxious look.

"I understand your hesitance to tell me what happened during that battle. For the time being, we will focus on the mission. The populace is more important. However, I do expect an explanation from you when we are returned." Wu said, putting a hand on Kai's shoulder.

Kai flinched at Wu's touch, but nodded slightly. He remained quiet and turned away from the old master.

"Okay, guys, quick!" I'm dropping the anchor!" Nya said. She really _had_ just rushed there. That had to be a new record!

Kai nodded and he and Wu ran to the deck, Kai grabbing a standard sword before he and Wu leapt off and caught onto the anchor, which began to fall.

Below, Kai could see a large group gathered around the bank. There were around a dozen police officers trying to hold them back. From behind the line that they had formed there was glass and crumbled building scattered over the ground. He caught the occasional glimpse of men wearing black suits, as well as bright flashes of green. He figured the green was Lloyd, and by he really was outnumbered.

As the anchor began to near the ground, Kai and Wu leapt off, using spinjitzu to land safely.

The first thing Kai noticed when he was steady on the ground was the small group of black-clothed men circled around Lloyd, who was throwing one punch after another without break. Lucky for him, the men hadn't notice Kai or Wu yet, giving them the advantage for the time being.

Kai ran up right behind the men and began to gather up a fireball in his hands. The bigger it grew, the warmer it grew, and just as it was getting to the point of being too hot, Kai expanded it and threw it up and out, aimed directly for the center of the circle. He leapt up and followed it, doing spinjitzu as he did.

"Lloyd!" He yelled in warning. Technically, the ball was headed directly for the person standing in the center of the circle, which, at the moment, happened to be Lloyd.

Lloyd saw Kai and smiled with relief. He caught sight of the fire-ball and rolled between the legs of the men around him, getting out of the way just as it landed in the middle and blew the 7 men backward. Just as the fire dissipated, Kai landed and drew out his sword, swinging around in a circle to push the men further back and separate them.

"Ha!" He shouted triumphantly. It was a short-lived triumph however, as they all managed to jump back onto their feet and group together, this time surrounding Kai. However, they had yet to see Wu, who slammed his staff into the back of one of the men, who immediately passed out. Kai figured he must have found a pressure point or something along those lines.

Just before the rest of the men could really react, Wu repeated the move on two more of them, leaving nearly half of the group, now unconscious, on the ground. The remaining four turned toward Wu, battle stanced.

"Sweet!" Lloyd exclaimed, doing a front flip and landing directly behind them. Wu had just halved their work!

The men turned around again, this time not prepared quite so quickly, at which point Lloyd shot a massive ball of green light in their direction, knocking them into each other like bowling pins.

"Strike!" Lloyd pumped a fist. This battle was turning out a lot easier than he thought it would. Frankly (and silently), Kai had to agree. It looked pretty dire to start with, but now it was just easy. It was both satisfying and kind of sad at the same time.

Kai remembered that he was supposed to be looking for something to shut down the explosives. He rushed forward and swiped at the men on the ground, who jumped up and scattered to avoid his blade, and he began to scan for any kind of suspicious looking device. A remote, a fuse, a machine of some sort, it had to be something.

"Kai!" Wu shouted to get his attention. Kai jumped slightly then turned around, facing Wu.

"There! Take out the statue!" Wu was locked with one of the men, the two pressing back and forth. Wu had used his head to gesture towards the left. Kai followed the gesture and saw a small statuette of a thin cat, sitting attentively, with a ruby-like gemstone in its chest. How in the heck had Wu figured _that_ out?!

Shaking his head and deciding not to question the old man, he dashed forward and pulled his arms back over his head, sword in hand, and prepared to leap up and land a blow to destroy the statuette. Just before he could jump, however, he was blocked by one of the men, who slid in front of him. Kai crashed into the man and fell backwards.

"Oof!" He grunted, landing hard.

"Hey! 'Scuse me!" He growled. He stood up and did a quick spin, sword held out. He barely missed the man, who leapt backward a foot and then forward to meet him. The two clashed weapons, pushing each other back and away from each other before rushing forward to throw their weapons again.

Kai tried to spin to the side and go around the man, but was countered. He needed to get to the statue!

"Ugh! Don't you know when to let up?!" He growled. This was getting more annoying now than anything else.

He spun to the other side and found himself locking blades with the enemy once again. He continued to press back against the man, the two constantly being pushed backwards and away from each other before re-meeting in a stalemate.

It wasn't until another one of the men approached and picked up the statue that Kai started to get worried.

Just like in all the cheesy movies, the man flipped the head of the statue back to reveal a red button. The statue was wired into an electrical circuit, and Kai suddenly realized that he couldn't do anything to stop the man in his situation.

"Oh shoot, oh shoot!" He muttered. Kai's head perked up as the other man taunted him with the statue.

To his utter relief, Kai saw a ball of green energy slam into the man's back, causing him to drop the statue, which skid a few feet away. In addition, it distracted the man that he _himself_ was fighting. He turned and gave Lloyd a quick look of gratitude before turning back to his own battle and repeating his attempt of escape with a spin, this time successfully.

"Ha!" He yelled, triumphant. He had a bit of a tendency to repeat the phrase, but who could blame him?

Kai yanked the connecting wire out of the statue's base then threw it to the ground, smashing it in the process. Then, before any of the men could react to the action, he turned around and gathered up, in each hand, a ball of fire, which he launched at the two men directly in front of him.

The fireballs landed precisely where he'd wanted them to, and they had a sort of * _poof*_ of an explosion, which blew the men onto their backs, effectively knocking them out. Now, all that were left were the two men which Lloyd and Wu had been fighting.

This was turning out to be fairly easy, Kai decided.

"Lloyd! See what you can do to shut down the circuit up there!" Kai yelled the instruction, jumping and taking battle with the man that Lloyd had been fighting.

"On it!" Lloyd said. He moved swiftly out of the way as Kai took over the fight for him and then rushed over to the circuit. Just because the statue was destroyed, didn't mean that the explosives couldn't still be activated. Not so long as they had a power source.

As Lloyd worked on that, Wu was held fairly busy himself. Despite how strong and agile he was for his age, he was growing tired and began to lose his own footing. The man he fought was using his weapon to press up against Wu's staff, to push the old man backward in the dirt. He had a lot of strength.

However, what this man did _not_ have was Wu's wisdom or skill, which differed greatly from strength alone.

Wu stopped pushing altogether and jumped backwards, causing the man to fall forward and onto the ground. Before he could roll over onto his back, Wu leapt up and smashed his staff into the man's back.

The man rolled back up onto his feet and was met by Wu, who was in a ready position. It seemed like the two were going to keep fighting, but the man had other plans.

Surprising Wu, the man fell back and ran in the opposite direction, toward Kai, who was on the ground and being overpowered.

"Kai, watch out!" Wu warned.

Kai grunted as he was pushed onto one of his knees by his opponent. He turned toward the coming man and threw a hastily put together ball of fire at him, just barely missing, but singing the man's sides.

The other man which Kai fought turned distractedly to look at his partner.

Distraction, however, was a very powerful form of weakness on occasion. Wu took advantage of the moment to land a blow to the man Kai fought, which sent him into a collapsed, and unconscious, pile on the floor.

"Yeah! Way to go, Sensei!" Kai cheered. Wu smiled amusedly, then nodded to Kai. He turned and ran to meet Lloyd, adding his own expertise into shutting down the circuit. It looked like Lloyd was having some trouble with one of the wires, which was half attached to the circuit..

Kai turned to the last man and smirked. He picked up his sword and lifted his free hand, a small fireball forming.

The man seemed to swallow before shaking his head and rushing Kai. Kai simply stepped to the side and watched the man stumble past him.

"Look, we've already fought like, 6 of you, so you can just give up now." He said boastfully.

The man turned around and stood up straight, mock-bowing.

"Well you haven't fought me!"

Kai almost dropped his sword he jumped so badly. That was a _female's_ voice!

" _What_?" He muttered to himself.

She laughed at him. She yanked back her hood to reveal a brunette with a bob-cut and bright red lips, curled into a crazed grin. She bore a symbol on her forehead reminiscent of the jewel Kai saw on the statue's chest, as well as small gold markings around the ankles and wrists of her outfit, which he hadn't noticed before. He could only assume she was the leader of the group, as none of the other fighters had the same markings.

"You thought we were _all_ men?" She asked scornfully.

"You're all _girls_!?" Kai half choked.

"No. Just _me_." She growled at him. Then, before he could fully re-gather himself, she leapt at him, knocking him to the ground.

"Oof! Jeez, you're heavy!" He groaned.

Her glare, if possible, intensified, and she grabbed hold of the front of his gi. She lifted him slightly, then slammed him into the ground, getting a grunt from the ninja.

"Don't think I'll take it easy on you just because I'm a girl!" She said, slamming him into the ground again.

"And don't think I'll take it easy on you just because _I'm_ a gentleman!" He retorted, rolling her over and pinning _her_ onto the ground.

She had surprising speed and strength, and before he could do anything about it, she'd rolled him back over onto his back, then lept up. He thought she was just getting into a better position to fight him, but he was wrong, and watched as she ran towards Wu and Lloyd.

"No!" He yelled as she pushed the two aside, in opposite directions. As the two fell to the ground, she began to twiddle with the wires and buttons, rapidly sticking them back into place and trying to activate the explosives.

Kai scrambled to his feet and picked up his sword, charging at the girl. He pulled his sword back, ready to strike.

Surprising him yet again, she whirled around holding her own blade, and swung at him, just under his arms.

And she hit.

Kai collapsed to his knees with a yelp as the sword slashed his stomach. He gave it a quick glance, relieved as he realized it wasn't too deep a gash, but winced as the pain became sharp.

The girl in front of him gave a cruel laugh before turning back to the circuit board and setting back to work at a quicker pace than before.

To his sides, Kai could see Wu and Lloyd get back to their feet and gather their own defences, preparing to strike. They froze however, when she whipped around and held up a finger.

Creating a small gust of wind, she swung her blade in Kai's direction, pausing just in front of his face.

"Ah-uh." She said it with a sweetened sing-song of a voice.

"What're you going to do now? He can't defend _himself_." She smirked.

"Hey! I resent that!" Kai said, grimacing.

Her expression changed, and her tone became deadly.

"Not another step." She pushed the blade forward an inch, Kai pulling himself back slightly.

She looked to either side, glaring, in turn, at both Wu and Lloyd.

However, just as Sensei Wu had done earlier, Kai took advantage of her small moment of distraction and rolled hard over his shoulder to the left. With as much speed and strength as he could muster, he jabbed his sword into the circuit board.

In hindsight, that was a fairly stupid thing to do.

The board erupted with electricity, which flowed freely into Kai's body. He was, quite literally, shocked backward and into the female standing behind him, a look of horror ornamenting her face.

An absolutely blinding light flashed across his vision, and a burning sensation zapped across his body, very much unlike fire, but quite familiar at the same time.

At this point, he was lying on the ground, and registering a mixture of different sounds. He could hear an angered roar from the woman in black, and cheering from the crowd outside the bank.

But, as his vision began to grow darker, he heard his own name more and more frequently until, finally, a strange feeling came over him and he could… could no longer…. keep his eyes… his eyes… open…..

* * *

 _Woah. Hello, bright light._ Kai thought rubbing his eyes as he regained consciousness.

"Kai! Jeez, buddy, gave us all a heart-attack!" Lloyd exclaimed, rushing to give the confused ninja a hug.

"Well, I'm not dead." Kai replied, sitting up. Surprising, he didn't actually feel all that bad. He figured that the *shock* he'd gotten earlier probably didn't have any major or lasting effects, and he'd been through worse any way he looked at it. He had to admit, though, that gash on his stomach wasn't exactly comfortable.

"What happened?" He asked. "And _please_ tell me that circuit board is fried, because I'm not doing _that_ again." He rolled his eyes, sitting up and swinging his legs over the couch he was apparently lying on.

"No, no, don't worry. It's taken care of. Bit of an adventure we had getting that all finished with." Lloyd laughed slightly.

"I can imagine." Kai chuckled. Nya, Lloyd, and Wu all three stood in front of him. It looked like they may have been talking about something before he woke up. Their expressions were a little unsettling.

"Did something happen?" He asked, suddenly curious.

"Yes, something did. And you agreed you would speak with me about it." Wu said, stepping forward. As if on cue, the other two nodded and stepped out of the room. Kai watched them leave, a growing feeling of nervousness creeping up his neck.

"I, uh, I suppose I did, huh?" Kai chuckled halfheartedly, rubbing the back of his head with his hand and avoiding Wu's gaze.

"How long have you had those bruises?" Wu asked, getting right to the point.  
"Bruises? I don't- oh." He'd almost entirely forgotten, but he still had bruises from the time that Wu had been… well, we probably don't need to go over that again. Wu must have seen the bruises when they were bandaging him up. Assuming, that is, that they _did_ bandage him up. The firm pressure around his middle was enough to tell him that they probably did.

"I have a number of questions for you, Kai, and I want honest answers." Wu said firmly.

Kai sighed.

"They've been there about a month and a half." He said. "But they don't hurt anymore." He added quickly.

"Good. How did you get them?" Wu asked. His gaze was hard and determined, unchanging. Kai flinched at the question, looking at his Sensei in a sort of 'Do I have to?' way. Wu simply stood still, watching Kai.

Well, there was no point in trying to hide it anymore. It had been long enough.

"...you." He said reluctantly.

"Me?"

"When you were under the control of the Overlord." Kai hunched his shoulders nervously, almost afraid Wu would be angry with him. Why, though, he couldn't pin exactly.

 _I guess I'm just still worried about what happened and what… what might happen._

Wu stroked his beard in thought, then walked slowly to sit beside Kai.

"Tell me what happened that day, Kai." Wu said, just as he had done earlier.

Finally, Kai gave in. He sighed defeatedly, then turned to Wu. He told him the entire story, from beginning to end. From the moment that Wu had been taken hostage, to the moment he reappeared as his normal self just after the ninja's adventure in the digital world. His tone became nervous and he slowly curled himself inward, feeling small next to the one who had hurt him so badly, despite how Wu had been unaware at the time. He told Wu about how he'd showed up suited with a technologically advanced helmet of sorts, how his eyes had changed to red, and his staff, charged with electricity. He told him everything he could remember from the battle, every hit, punch, kick, jab, and how many times Kai was close to truly being injured.

In response to all of this, Wu's expression became more and more sorrowful, regretful, and he eventually had to stop Kai.

"No more." He said simply. Kai had unknowingly curled into a ball the way he had done before, and he'd become increasingly nervous. Every time Wu shifted or turned his head, Kai flinched, and Wu was finally realizing what had happened.

He had hurt Kai. He had almost _killed_ Kai. He overpowered and trapped the teenaged boy next to him, and he couldn't control himself at the time that he did. Kai was still scared of him. And what was worse was that Wu had grown to be a father to him. He had grown to care for Kai, he had taught him, guided him, comforted him, and offered him a home. He'd done the same for his sister, too. He was the closest thing Kai had to a parent, and Kai needed that release from having to act like one.

And Wu had hurt him. Wu had been, for a time, the opposite of what Kai had grown to know.

Finally, Wu stood up, feeling resolved.

"Kai, stand up." He demanded. He held a slightly colder temperament for the moment, but as Kai did as told and stood up, Wu did something that he hadn't done in a very long time.

He hugged Kai.

Kai was taken aback at first, tense and stiff, but relaxed as he realized what Wu had done. And, without even realizing it, he began to cry.

Emotions flooded his mind as the embrace tightened.

A hug is a physical expression of love. It is the surest way to know that you are cared for. It tells you when you are wanted or needed, and it lets you know that you are safe from harm. Hugs create a sort of bubble where you are away from the world, and as Wu tightened his, all of these things, and all of the fatherly traits Kai had come to depend on, became evident.

"I am not Tech-Wu. And I would never, ever, hurt you, my student." Wu said quietly.

And a hug, was all it took.

* * *

IT'S DONE! FINALLY! AND IT'S SO CHEESY! ***Maniacal laughter***

Phoo, sorry guys. I didn't mean for it to take forever! Let me tell you, in two weeks of time, I've had so little writing time, and it's ridiculous. I mean, in google docs, this story is 22 pages long! Considering my little time to write, that's impressive, and I was really eager to get this one done, so no complaining! I have to admit, I'm a little undecided about the ending. I threw in some kind of battle scene because I couldn't think of a better way to create a pause between a first and a second meeting where Wu confronts Kai. And then the scene seemed to just… grow. It seems just kind of tossed in in my opinion. And the ending where they sort it all out… Yeah, I dunno. It had almost an abrupt ending, I think, and I was a little anxious to get it done so I could move to the next request, but I don't honestly know if it was all that good, even if I had been trying to draw it out. Kai, too, ended up being a little more… child-like than I had originally intended. It's okay, as the ninja are supposed to be around their mid-teens anyway. It's not _that_ uncommon. The rest was kind of simple, and the reflection on what Kai was feeling isn't as good as I had hoped either. It's not what I expected it to be (as I write as I go) and I don't know if it's what you guys expected either, but you know what? I worked hard on this. Easily one of my longest stories yet, and I think I will eventually grow to like it, as I will also grow to be better at writing in general, so it's all up to you guys on this one now. Anyway, thank you so much for reading my stuff, and I hope it was good enough "RandomPerson." Last of all, I _will_ be writing more of those requests in, so just bear with me as I try to find time in between all my extra-curriculars. Love you guys! Tell me what you think, and don't be afraid to request something! B'bye!

-LizzyLucky


	3. AN - Review Response 1

Hey, all! So, here's what I'm thinking: that last one shot was super stressful because of all the things I had going on around it and my own insecurity as to how good I am writing. It doesn't help any that, in the same amount of time after this one was published as the last one was, there are literally no reviews or additional follows, very much unlike the first one shot. Not the best writer, apparently. Well, I mean, I'm sure that, in some ways, I'm really good. And then in others, probably not so much. However, I've been super anxious to get some reviews, and I'm completely impatient, so I decided, instead of starting a new one-shot, I'll leave responses to some of your reviews! I'm sure there are people who love when the author acknowledges their comments, because I know that I do. Hopefully, if I can get a name for myself as an author good at interacting with her "fans" (do I even have any?), I may become a little more well-liked.

Oh, jeez, I don't even know what I'm saying, so let's just get on with my responses.

 _ **For**_ _ **members**_ _**who reviewed:**_

 **Loki God of Evil:** Wow, thank you! I actually really liked your review. It made me laugh. I am _honored_ (insert sarcasm) to have a _God_ read and review for my story. If you ever bother to come back, let me know what you think of the newer chapters. (Please?)

 **StoriesAreMagic:** Aw, thank you! You are super sweet! I was really hoping to get that balance between comfort and hurt, and I guess I got it fairly well. To be honest, part of the whole reason I even made that first one-shot was because of a scene I have in another full-length (and unfinished) story where Kai speaks with Zane in a similar manner. It made me kind of excited, and I wanted to kind of go over the idea more, which is why the speech towards the end was so heart-felt. I'm really glad you liked it all!

 **The Night Ninja:** I actually really like your idea! I haven't done stuff _quite_ like that, but the idea of Wu adopting Zane sounds kind of cute, and I think, with some work, I could probably pull it off! Know what else? Your request is actually the next one on my list, as I go in order from earliest requests to latest requests. So, hopefully, we'll be seeing this next story come out with a lot of bonding between Wu and Zane. I'm becoming somewhat more skeptical of how I'm writing my stuff, and definitely more particular about it as I get better, but I think this one'll be fun. So thanks for the idea!

 **Nagasha:** Wow! I loved your short, sweet, and simple review. I really like it when people leave critique on my stories, it makes me happy and helps me to know where I'm doing well and where I'm not. Anyway, I _super_ love your request! Super, super, _super_! I've been kind of excited to do that one since I first read it. It's second on my list, since I go in order of when I get requests, but I'm definitely planning to write that one. If you read chapter two, where Wu and Kai bond, you can actually find a bit of an easter egg as to that story idea. So, yeah, keep a look out for it, because it's on the list. Thanks for the idea!

 **The Mayor of Ninjago City:** Woo hoo hoo! You're on this story, too! I really appreciate all of your comments! I'm a little stuck on that other story I'm doing with Zane, so I'm not certain how or when I'll be continuing it, but it's on the loooong list of things to do, so I think it'll be moving again eventually. I honestly really love that you included the little "LL," too. Very few actually acknowledge me specifically, and "LL" is close enough, so I feel all special and VIP-ish now. Thanks! And, I just have to say it because it's been bugging me, but everytime I see your profile pic, my first thought is that it's some kind of an evil, red Barney or something. I have to do a double-take to realize that the sharp yellow teeth are actually just little frosting decorations on a red cake of a ninja. It makes me laugh every time. It's a good pic though. Makes me smile, and I have to admit, gotta love the cake. (Once I realize it's a cake, that is.) Anyway, thanks for reviewing and staying loyal! I really love it!

 _ **Alright, now for the**_ _ **guests**_ _**who reviewed:**_

 **RandomPerson:** Well, I sorta already responded to you in the last chapter, which is still, apparently, completely unnoticed. Anyway, I had a lot of fun writing it, even if it was a little hectic in the end. I hope it was at least a little bit of what you were looking for, and I can tell you right now that there will be plenty of one-shots and one-shot requests that will have other kinds of bonding between the ninja and Wu, so hopefully there's nothing to worry about!

 **RJ:** Dude, I like, super appreciate both of your reviews! I know I kinda took forever to update, but whatcha gonna do? High school, man. Anyway, I hope you liked my newer one-shot, and maybe stick around for the ones to come, which, with any luck, won't be quite so hectic.

 **TheAmberShadow:** Hey! Glad you liked the story! Have to admit, you make a point about how Pixal was never there. I guess it just hadn't really occurred to me, since I was trying to focus more on Zane's relationship with the other ninja, as well as his own thoughts on the situation. Good catch, though! I'll see to remember to incorporate her somehow in future one-shots, should it be after Zane goes through that whole mess.

 **Anonymous7:** I really love that you liked my one-shot! I didn't think it would be a very good, or interesting, story for anyone to read, but it ended up being quite the opposite. I'm surprised with how much attention it got. Apparently, my newer one-shot, which I was confident about, was quite the opposite. Anyway, about the request, I actually really like this idea! It sounds hilarious, and hopefully, the finished product will be too! I think it's either third or fourth on my to-do list, but it's definitely up there. Thanks for reading my story and leaving a request!

Phoo! Now that's done, I suppose I have to get back to actually writing the next one-shot up. I really appreciate your support everyone! As long as people are reading my story and I continue to get good feedback, I think I'm all good to go. Realize, though, that even though some of my stories can be hectic or don't seem very good, I'm only 16, and I'm pretty busy. I don't have as much experience as some of the better fanfiction authors, and I certainly don't have the same talent as some of them do. I know I'm still pretty good, but you're gonna have to just bear with me as I try to find my own style and figure out how to perfect it so that the stories I create have better flow and functionality. Again, thank you guys so much for reading my stuff, and I'll see ya next time I get around to actually _finishing_ a request.

-LizzyLucky


	4. Not Alone Part 1

Right, so, listen up y'all! I've been super busy. I'm in the last week of school (or when I started writing I was, probably not when I'm actually done with this chapter) and I've been car shopping and I've got my birthday here on June 1st. (Yay, me!) Basically, I've been unable to find a good time to get to writing, but I'm trying. Next, the story is not updating properly, so nobody is seeing any of my new chapters! I have to post them individually as their own stories for people to see them, but I'll also be putting them in this collection. Now, this story is a request from **The Night Ninja**. It's basically the idea that Zane is adopted by Wu after Dr. Julien's death. I think it's a little weird, but I also think I have a really good way of incorporating this idea into my writing, so I think it'll do alright. As an added plus, and if you're creative enough, there may or may not be hints of Zane x Nya in there for all you Zaya lovers… Not my favorite ship, but I think it can be really cute at times. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy! -LizzyLucky

* * *

This… This wasn't right. It wasn't supposed to happen like this at _all_. It started like a regular day. They all got up, ate breakfast, and went to the deck to train, as usual. They sparred with each other and used the equipment for a while. If it weren't a weekend, they would have left Destiny's Bounty and gone to Wu's new school to teach. And, as usual, after two hours of training, they were alerted to the mail's arrival. Their faithful and underpayed mailman had, once again, trecked across the city and several miles into the desert, carrying a stack of a few dozen envelopes for the ninja. However, he carried one of the envelopes separately, and as he gave the Bounty's door a firm knocking, his expression became grim. "Mail's here!" Nya opened the door, and called for the ninja. There was a * _thump*_ in the background, followed by the pounding of footsteps and a crash, what sounded like someone launching themself into a door, and then came the glorious view of five rowdy boys stumbling over each other in a race for the door Nya stood at. The mailman held out the large stack of mail nervously and watched as the ninja grabbed handfuls of the paper until the pile was gone. "Heh, thanks." Nya thanked. "Sorry about them." She added apologetically. "Eh, no worries. Hey, before I go though, I've got a specially addressed letter to Zane." The mailman held out the separate envelope he had, and, seeing as how Zane had already run off with the others, Nya took it. "Oh. Okay. Thank you, again!" The mailman nodded and smiled, turning as he waved his goodbye and walked back out into the snow. Nya closed the door and looked down at the letter. Very akin to Zane's personality, the envelope was silver, and had a snowflake design on the front. It didn't have a return address or name. Walking down the hall, Nya looked back up and walked into the ninjas' shared room. "Hey, Zane, one more letter for ya." She said, holding up said letter. "What? Zane got extra fan-mail?" Jay exclaimed. Each ninja was sat on the floor, sitting around each other in some form of a circle, and their mail already sorted into individual piles for each. "Jay, you already have more fan-mail than most of us." Kai said pointedly. Jay's pile _was_ a little larger… (shh!) "Oh. Right. Heh." "For me?" Zane asked curiously, standing up. He walked to Nya and calmly took the envelope from her. He studied it front and back, before opening it and pulling out the slip of paper from inside. "Well, Zane? What's it say?" Jay asked, sitting up as tall as he could. "I don't know." Zane said. "Give him a sec, Jay. Jeez." Cole said, rolling his eyes. He picked up one of Jay's envelopes and slapped him in the arm with it. "Ow…" Jay complained, feigning hurt. Kai snickered at their antics. Zane had only just begun to read the letter, sitting down as he continued. The other ninja watched him eagerly. Zane turned his head at the paper, as though responding to something in it. He creased his eyebrows, apparently confused. Then, his eyes widened. "But he was…" He mumbled. As he read another line or so, his shoulders bounced upward slightly and he grasped onto the paper with both his hands. His expression became more alarmed than confused and his back went rigid. "Zane? Is everything alright?" Kai asked. Zane shook his head quickly, as though waking himself from a trance, and looked up to Kai, who looked concerned. "I-" Zane tried. He stopped himself and his arms slowly sank, the paper still held within their grasp. Lloyd moved to tap Zane on the shoulder and ask what was wrong, but Zane flinched as he lifted his hand. Not giving anyone a chance to say more, Zane very suddenly stood up and ran out of the room. "Zane!" Kai yelled after him. The remaining ninja stood up and ran out the door, each now just as alarmed as Zane had looked. Nya moved to follow, but paused to turn around and pick up the dropped letter Zane had been reading. " _Dearest Zane,_ " She read. " _We understand your connection with a "Dr. Julien," who has expressed his wishes for us to periodically inform you of his life events. Each letter has been personalized by Dr Julien and are as follows:  
_ " _Happy Birthday, Zane!"  
_ " _Update for your falcon."  
_ " _Treehouse cleanup."  
_ " _Celebration of return!"  
We have been instructed to hand down to you Dr. Julien's will at the time of his passing, and regret to inform you as such. The lab results conclude the origin of death to be a heart attack, as a result of old age and poor health condition in past years. As a surrogate family member to the White Ninja, we wish to hold both a private funeral and a public memorial in honor of Dr. Julien, should you chose to attend. We await your quick response and will respect your wishes in regards to the suggested events. As a concluding note, Dr. Julien's will has been included in the envelope addressed you, and we encourage you to read through it before presenting it to an official. We are sorry for your loss.  
Sincerely,  
The Ninjago City Council."_ As Nya finished reading, she lowered the page. "Oh no. Zane…" She said quietly. Her heart had practically ripped in two. Shaking her head quickly, the way Zane had done earlier, she gripped the paper and ran out of the room, dashing down the hallways and in the direction she'd heard the ninja running. She quickly wiped at her eye, the start to a tear she didn't want to fall as she ran. Half way down the hallway, she crashed into someone stepping out of a doorway. "Woah!" She yelped, stumbling backwards and just barely keeping her balance. She caught the color white and immediately assumed she'd bumped into Zane. Looking up, she instead saw Sensei Wu. "Sensei! Forgive me." She said, bowing her head respectfully. "Is something wrong?" Wu asked, nodding his acknowledgement to her apology. "Something is very wrong, Sensei. Zane-" She cut herself off, not sure how to continue. Was she intruding by reading the letter? Was she going too far by telling Sensei Wu? "Zane, what?" Wu asked turning his head at her. "Zane- I think Zane needs our help." She said quietly. Wu, seeming to understand on some level, nodded and didn't prod. Turning around, he calmly walked down the hallway the direction Nya had been running. The two made their way down the hallway, Nya more anxious than Wu, and eventually made it to the deck. There was no one there. "Where'd they all go?" Nya asked, running out to the middle of the deck. "Were they here?" Wu asked curiously, turning his head back and forth as he looked. "Well… I didn't _see_ them here, but they were running in this direction. Maybe they went to the kitchen or something?" She pondered, creasing her brow in concentration. Though he didn't say anything, Wu already had an idea of where they'd gone. If Zane was bothered by something, he often would go to the Birchwood forest. The ninja were likely to follow. That and, well, the footprints in the snow were fairly indicative. Without saying a word, Wu walked to the edge of the deck and turned around to watch Nya. She'd begun pacing and listing ideas to herself, working into a frenzy. After a moment of pacing, she noticed Wu watching her and stopped, in the middle of counting on her fingers. "Sensei?" She asked. "Follow me, please." He said calmly. Dropping her arms, Nya walked over to Wu as he jumped up on top of the rail and then down to the ground. Imitating his actions, she leapt to the ground beside him and finally caught sight of the footprints, a mental "Oh!" going off in her head. She trailed them with her eyes and saw them disappear into the Birchwood forest. "The Birchwood forest?" She cocked her head, pointing. "Yes. You implied that Zane was distressed, and he often retreats to the safety of his childhood home during such times." "Oh. Yeah. That makes sense. Why didn't I think of that?" She facepalmed. Wu chuckled lightly. As they began to walk down the trail of footprints, it started to lightly snow. Nya relaxed her shoulders and looked up into the sky, which was entirely white and gray. She grinned. "I always liked the snow. It's so pretty and calming. Days like these are so nice for any kind of mood." She said euphorically.  
"Yet another reason Zane's element of ice fits him so well. Though ice and snow are not the same thing, they work hand in hand." Wu commented. "Yeah. He's kind of like the snow. He's gentle and kind and just a pleasant person to be around." "Agreed." A moment of silence passed by and Nya's grin faded. "I hope he's okay." She said sadly. "What happened?" Wu asked. He had a very fatherly manner about him, something that, while he didn't always show it, became a key part of his personality, and a reason the other ninja had grown closer to him over the years. He and the ninja, and Nya, had really become like a family, and they cared for each other like it. They called each other brothers and sister.  
For the moment, Nya had frowned at his question, unsure how to answer. "I don't know if it's my place to tell you. I already feel like I may have been intruding by reading through his letter." She said, placing a hand on her chin in thought. "Understandable. But I cannot help Zane if I do not know what ails him." Wu said, looking at Nya. She thought for a moment, eyes scanning back and forth over something invisible, then nodding decisively. "Okay." She said. "He received a letter earlier that- that said- That Dr. Julien passed away…" She trailed off uncomfortably and felt her heart lurch. Wu remained silent and looked down at the ground as they walked. "Oh, dear…" He said.

* * *

"Zane, wait!" Kai called out, reaching a hand outward. "Come back!" Jay cried. "What happened?" Cole asked as they ran. Zane had started running faster as he touched the snow outside the Destiny's Bounty. He huffed as he ran, but didn't slow down. The other ninja took off after him, trying to get him to slow down. What could have been in that letter to make Zane run off? They'd been chasing him for almost 10 minutes now, he running deeper and deeper into the Birchwood forest. The other ninja had eventually realized that he was running toward his father's old treehouse. Zane, being a nindroid and having a lot of experience in general, had run much faster and much longer than the others and had gotten quite far ahead of them. As he saw the treehouse line up in his view, he looked behind him for the other ninja. He couldn't see any of them. He might have slown down a bit had it been anything else, but seeing the old home only made him quicken his pace further. "Father!" He called out as he approached. When he reached the door, he skidded to a stop and pushed it open, rushing inside. That's when he slowed down. The house was a mess. Not as bad as the first time he'd discovered it, thanks to a bit of help from the other ninja. When his father had come back to Ninjago, he went to live in the old home once more, and the ninja helped him to clean it up a bit. Now, however, the house was dreary. It was unkempt and everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. Not a good sign. "Father!" He called out again, looking over the edge of the railing. Looking down, there was no one he could see at the bottom. Leaving one hand on the railing, he ran down the steps, taking them two at a time. When he reached the bottom, he stopped and had to suck in a breath of air. As bad as it was at the top, it was worse at the bottom. The dust was even more thickly layered. Aside from the dust, things were moderately well organized, but what drew Zane's attention was a desk with a single lamp on it. The lamp was on its side, the glass of the bulb shattered over a half-finished blueprint sketch. There was a pencil and several pieces of paper scattered on the floor by the desk, and the stool which once stood there had been knocked onto its back. Taking a few steps forward, scenarios flashed through Zane's head. He looked at the desk and closed his eyes. The vision of the desk didn't disappear, and as he turned away, he could see his father moving a shaking arm quickly to grasp his shirt, knocking over the lamp as he did so. Zane shook his head, trying to shake the image away. He opened his eyes again and watched a shadow of his father stagger backward and knock the chair over, other arm dragging a pencil and several pages down with it. "No!" He shouted defiantly. He hadn't seen what happened here. Who's to say it actually happened? There was no way! Zane shook his head twice more, moving a hand to his forehead, as though the physical contact would slow his thoughts. "No, no, no…" He repeated, voice growing both higher in pitch and softer with each "no." He walked over to the desk, studying it more thoroughly. The blueprints really were only half finished, and he couldn't tell what exactly it was supposed to be. Bending down, he picked up one of the pages on the floor. It had crease lines in it, as though it had been folded. There was writing on it, and as he moved to read it, he realized it was his own handwriting. It was a letter that _he_ had sent _Dr. Julien._ Looking at the other two pages on the ground, he realized one was also a letter he'd sent, but that the other was something else. He set down the page he held and picked that one up. This one was in Dr. Julien's handwriting. There were a few sentences, one unfinished. It was a letter addressed to Zane. " _My dearest Zane,"_ It started. Every letter from Dr. Julien began this way. " _I am pleased to hear your progress! I never programmed you with cooking skills, nor with such capacity for emotion, but it sounds like you've done just fine learning these things on your own. I also wanted to thank you and your friends for helping me with cleaning up this old treehouse. You did an excellent job! But that's not why I write this letter now. I have news: I would like t-"_ The letter cut off there. Where there should have, presumably, been an "o" was instead a squiggled line, very blotchy, then a large downward streak on the page. Zane's eyes began to water. The image of Dr. Julien stumbling backward and dragging down these pages flashed across his mind once more, and Zane choked out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Dr. Julien had died thinking of him. His creator. His _father_. And what _was_ his only living relation. Zane was alone, now. A short sob burst from his mouth, surprising him. "He can't be- He can't be gone!" But he was. Had he been sick? Injured? Did he have heart issues? Why didn't he tell Zane? Why wasn't there a warning? Was there a warning? If there was, Dr. Julien would have recognized it. "You promised you would tell me if anything like that ever happened…" He said quietly, almost accusingly. "I could have saved you!" He mumbled, his hands shaking. Suddenly, he didn't even feel sad anymore. He felt… Angry. Betrayed. Dr. Julien _left_. Not even caring if there was anyone there to see or hear him, he stood up and threw the page downward. "How could you _leave_? Why didn't you _tell_ me? I could have _done_ something, I could have _helped_! You promised you would tell me! _You promised_! You _lied_ , and you _left_!" He shouted angrily, throwing his arms up. He kicked the chair with every accusation, and finished by kicking it so hard that it flew across the room and smashed into the wall, breaking one of the legs and leaving it a mess of several broken pieces on the floor. He stopped and watched as the wood clattered, anger fading as quickly as it had come. He broke his father's chair. He broke it, one of the few things he felt he had left to hold on to now, and it seemed so overwhelming suddenly that he slid to the floor and felt himself go numb for a moment. Consumed by grief, he pulled his knees to his chest and struggled to hold in tears as he began to thoroughly realize that there was no denying Dr. Julien's death. Or the fact that he no longer had family. "Zane! Augh, there you are!" Exclaimed a voice. Zane looked up and saw, standing at the entrance, Jay, looking over the edge. Kai stood behind him, huffing and puffing, hands on knees, and Cole and Lloyd trailed in just behind him. "Whatcha doin' here?!" Cole asked between huffs of breath. The four walked down the staircase, each becoming concerned as they noticed Zane's position. Kai, noticing the messed up desk and chair, was the first to ask. "What _happened_?" Zane tried to answer but nothing came out of his mouth. He gawped for a moment, then shut his mouth again and hung his head. He couldn't even answer them properly. "Zane, what's wrong? You can tell us." Cole said as gently as he could, taking a step forward and placing a hand on Zane's shoulder. "You're not- you're not hurt, are you?" Kai asked worriedly. "No." Zane answered quietly, finding his voice. Jay hunched his shoulders sadly upon hearing Zane's suddenly tired voice Kai walked around Zane and looked at the desk, catching sight of the shattered glass of the bulb and the spilt papers, one of which was slightly crumpled. "What was- What- How did-" He tried to say. He couldn't finish a sentence, as he began to realize what may have happened. "Heart attack." Zane almost whispered. He choked on the words, tears threatening to spill as he uttered them. "Zane…" Jay trailed sadly. "He's… Gone?" Lloyd asked, walking and kneeling by Zane, who sucked in a breath of air. Another voice near the top of the stairwell spoke up, drawing all the ninja's attention. "He's gone." It said with finality. There at the top stood Sensei Wu and Nya, both looking forlorn. They walked calmly down the steps, approaching Zane as they reached the bottom. Zane looked up to Wu with an almost pleading look, like he was hoping for the entire situation to be a dream, or just a really cruel joke. Wu put a hand in front of Nya, stopping her. He took another step forward and knelt down directly in front of Zane, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "And he's not coming back." The ninja each watched, heart-broken, as Zane finally broke and let a sob escape his mouth. A single tear fell with the sob, and Zane tried to wipe it away with the back of his hand. As the one was wiped away, two more slid down his cheeks and another muffled sob escaped his mouth. He tried, for a moment, to stop the sounds, and used both his hands to wipe away tears and cover his mouth. But the harder he tried to conceal himself, the harder he cried, until he got to the point of being unable to do anything but sob openly. The usually calm, level-headed, composed-in-any-situation Zane became child like. It didn't matter that he was an android. He had interests, hobbies, likes, dislikes, morals, emotions. Emotions which, like any regular person's, could be aggravated, encouraged, or hurt. And no matter what he was made of, he was just as human as the other ninja. After Zane had had a good cry, surrounded by the ninja and his Sensei, he had actually fallen _asleep_. When he'd started crying, he was immediately surrounded and hugged by everyone in the room, each offering physical and emotional support as he allowed himself to depend fully on them. It had been perhaps an hour and a half before he calmed down enough to compose himself, at which point he had exhausted himself in more ways than one. His sobs died away and his tense body relaxed in his spot, where he fell limp into the arms of Wu. Before they left, Zane was laid on an old couch at the side of the room and the ninja decided to tidy up the old treehouse one more time as a sort of respect to both Dr. Julien and Zane. The wooden chair was repaired, the broken glass cleaned up, light bulb replaced, tools and papers organized, and the entirety of the home dusted. It took them almost two hours, but the old home was left immaculate, with nothing but a few unfinished designs and written notes left on the old desk, never to be finished. Even by that time, Zane had remained asleep, and the ninja agreed on simply carrying him home, rather than waking him. At that point, as mentioned, it had begun to get dark and no one had eaten lunch or dinner. By the time they reached the Bounty, it was late enough that no one could care less about whether or not they ate before going to bed, and so decided on simply doing the latter. Zane was taken to his bed, left in his ninja gi, where he slept peacefully for the rest of the night. Each ninja, as well as Nya and Sensei Wu, had retreated to their own beds and fallen each into a dreamless sleep. Their day of goofing around, training, and announcing fan mail to each other had ended very differently than expected, and left everyone drained of energy. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

* * *

" _Good morning, Zane!" A cheery voice announced itself. Zane was startled awake and sat up quickly, almost hitting his head on the upper bunk. He turned to the voice to see Kai, a large grin on his face._ " _Morning?" He responded, still groggy enough that it sounded more like a question than a greeting._ " _Are you ready to go?" Kai asked. As Zane turned to look at him again, he realized that the other ninja were there too. And Nya. And Sensei Wu._ " _Ready to go? Where?" Zane asked curiously. He was confused._ " _Oh, silly." Kai chuckled uncharacteristically. Then, in a much darker tone,_ " _You have to leave."_ " _But- But why? Was I supposed to retrieve something last night that I forgot about?" Zane sat up, rubbing the back of his neck._ " _No. You just have to leave." Kai folded his arms, his expression becoming just as serious as his tone._ " _Did I do something wrong?" Zane stood up, worried. Surprising him, and nearly pushing him back down to the mattress, Jay stepped forward and shoved a large bag into the Nindroid's arms._ " _What?" Zane asked incredulously._ " _He said_ _ **leave**_ _." Jay growled at him. Zane's eyebrows shot up, his eyes widening in horror. He looked left, right, and behind, noticing that not one of his possessions was in sight._ " _W-what?" He repeated shakily._ " _As in_ _ **go**_ _! Adios, robot!" Cole shouted harshly, shoving Zane into the ground. The ninja closed in on Zane, creating a tight circle as he picked himself up off the floor. Kai stood just in front of Zane, tall and menacing._ " _Get out of the Destiny's Bounty, and_ _ **don't come back**_ _." He said. Zane shivered. Kai had never sounded so threatening. The red ninja's voice rumbled low, coming out more gutteral._ " _What did I- What did I do?" He asked, trying to grasp at the bag handed him._ " _Nothing. You never_ _ **did**_ _anything. You're useless to us, you_ _ **homeless, orphaned machine**_ _." Kai replied angrily._ " _M-machine? Orphaned? But I'm not- I didn't chose to-"_ " _No, you didn't! And that's exactly it, isn't it? You didn't_ _ **chose**_ _to be a robot. You didn't_ _ **chose**_ _to let your father die. Or did you? You_ _ **let**_ _him die. You knew you could have done something. You just didn't_ _ **chose**_ _to. You can't_ _ **chose**_ _to do anything, because you're a robot. You do what you're_ _ **told**_ _to do." Kai said accusingly, taking a step forward._ " _No… I don't… I wanted to save him, but he didn't- He couldn't- I'm not just a robot… I-"_ " _Shut up! You're made of metal and wire and programming! You're a machine! And we don't need you!" Jay shouted._ _Zane backed up a few steps, hugging his bag to his chest. He bumped into his bed and had to stop walking. The other ninja stepped toward him._ " _That's enough!" Wu said loudly, stepping between the ninja. For a moment, Zane was relieved to see them broken away from him. But he frowned upon seeing the scowl on Wu's face._ " _You will leave. Your creator died when you could have saved him. How do we know you won't leave helpless people to fend for themselves when they need you most? You're a mistake, Zane, and we can't risk lives on you."_ _Zane nearly dropped his bag at how harsh Wu sounded._ " _I-I'm not a mistake. Dr. Julien wasn't- h-he wasn't just m-my creator, he was my family! I tried, I really, really tried! P-please! I-I won't risk lives!" Zane pleaded desperately._ " _No, Zane. He wasn't your family. You don't_ _ **have**_ _family. You don't have family now, and you won't have family later. You_ _ **never**_ _had family. Because you're just a pile of emotionless metal slapped together to look human. You never had a father, and we were never your brothers." Kai growled._ " _Out!"_ " _Leave!"_ " _Shoo!"_ _The ninja grabbed at Zane's gi, pulling him back and forth as they tried to push him toward the door. As he was yanked through the middle of the circle and thrown to the other side, he just barely managed to keep from falling over and grabbed the doorway to steady himself. Just as he had done so, his bag was thrown at his middle, knocking him down to the ground, bag landing on his lap._ _Wu stepped forward from the group, looking surprisingly frightful standing above Zane._ " _You won't be needing this anymore." He said simply, leaning down and grabbing hold of the gold badge on Zane's gi. With one fluid motion, he ripped the piece of metal out of the fabric and left Zane stunned. That emblem defined his element, as well as his place among the team._ _Before Zane could even stand up, the rest of the group crowded up around him, ripping away small pieces of the once-pristine gi and kicking at him._ _One kick to his leg. Another to his foot. Then one to his back._ _That one_ _ **hurt**_ _!_ _A foot rammed into his chest, pushing him onto his back. He moved his arms over his head to protect it as various shoes began to kick and stomp unforgivingly at his chest and sides._ " _No!" He cried out dejectedly._ " _No, no, no!" He agonized. The word repeated itself as he went numb, closing his eyes tight, trying to flush the pain away._ "No!" He opened his eyes again, prepared to jump up and run. Instead, his head hit something hard as he sat up. "O-ow…" He muttered. The shouting stopped, and he realized that the only thing hurting was his head. His vision finally clearing, Zane registered that… there was no one there. Everything was quiet. A warm light flooded the room. Looking around, he quickly noticed that none of the other ninja were in their beds. In addition, his belongings were all still in place. "It was… A dream." He concluded. What time was it? "Zane? Are you okay?" A worried Kai skid to a stop at the doorway. "We heard shouting." He explained. Zane creased his eyebrows, still feeling flustered. "I'm fine." He said. It was only part true. He was relieved the dream wasn't real, but that same dream had, at the same time, presented every single one of his fears to him in the most vivid way possible. "You don't look fine. It's been a long few days." Kai responded. "Just a bad dream." Zane stood up, recognizing that he had a hand up against his forehead. "Did you hurt your head or something?" Kai asked, sounding half worried, and half amused. "I hit it on the bunk. I'll be fine." Zane paused as he approached the bathroom. "What time is it?" He asked, putting his hand down. "Nearly 10:00." Kai answered. "Uh, in the morning! You didn't sleep _that_ long." He added, chuckling. "Good to know." Zane said, smiling slightly. "Hey, are you alright? From yesterday, I mean?" Kai asked. "I don't know. It's a little bit hazy. I feel numb." Kai couldn't honestly think of anything to say in response, so instead said, "When you're ready, Cole made some waffles for breakfast. They're Eggo, by the way, so they can't be too bad…" Zane smiled. Cole had indeed gained a reputation for not being the best cook. But, seeing as how these were toaster waffles, pre-made and cooked, he probably couldn't have messed them up. As Kai left the room again, Zane walked up to their bathroom sink, looking in the mirror. He frowned. ' _Homeless, orphaned machine!'_ The phrase from his dream echoed in his head. He flinched as it repeated itself. He knew he wasn't a machine. But homeless? Orphaned? Technically, he was orphaned. Before he first remembered his father, he had been sure he was orphaned his whole life. It was lonely, and sometimes he wondered about it, but… He'd learned to accept it. Especially as he met the other ninja, and Sensei Wu. So why did it hurt so much more now? To know that he was orphaned? He had no siblings. He'd never had a mother. Had he? He wished he could have asked his father, but now… A single tear slid down his face. He'd never have that chance. His father was gone. His only family. The only family that he'd ever had… ' _No, Zane. He wasn't your family. You don't_ _ **have**_ _family. You don't have family now, and you won't have family later. You_ _ **never**_ _had family._ ' Why wouldn't it just leave him be?! This stupid dream! Wasn't it enough to know his father had died? To see the treehouse in a wreck? To find that half-written letter and know that Zane was the last thing Dr. Julien had been thinking of? Wasn't it enough?! Now this dream, now all these _horrible_ things he'd heard in the voices of his best friends? And they wouldn't leave him alone! He looked into the mirror. He looked terrible. His eyes were dull, with bags underneath them. He had tear streaks on his face and his hair was dishevelled. He still wore his ninja gi, instead of his characteristic striped pajamas. He must have fallen asleep some time the day before. "Perhaps some breakfast would do well." He muttered to himself. He turned toward the door decisively, making his way toward the kitchen. He walked slowly in the halls, looking at pictures hung on the wall. Pictures of their whole group, or family pictures the ninja had brought with them. After all, they were all technically still just kids. Even in their late teens. Having things with them, ways to remember home, ways to remember their family. Except Zane, of course. Nya and Kai had a bit of trouble with that one, too. Neither of them could remember their parents very well, much less what might have happened to them. They still had each other, but they still had only a very few pictures from their childhood regardless. Zane had the one that he found in the treehouse that first day. He found it a bit strange now that he hadn't taken any more with Dr. Julien since freeing the aged tinkerer.

* * *

It had been nearly a week since Dr. Julien's death. Zane had felt both grieved and numb at the same time. He didn't know what to do with himself. After two days, the funeral was held. Everyone occupying Destiny's Bounty had gone, as well as their families. Even Zane's falcon had shown up, which had been bittersweet for Zane. The falcon had been flying about Ninjago for a time, and Zand had almost entirely forgotten about him. The small robotic creature had a soft spot in Zane's heart, and had only grown more precious as Zane said his goodbyes. The day after that was the public memorial. Zane had chosen not to attend. He would watch from their television set, but wouldn't go. It was endearing to see groups of people crowd around the City hall in honor of Dr. Julien, many sharing how much they respected the old man, both because of his contributions to science and justice, and because of how much he had meant to Zane. Two days after that, Zane had finally cleared himself enough to read Dr. Julien's will. As most had expected, he had been left with rights to the treehouse, as well as to the work inside it. He could either sell or keep the inventions within. Zane, without question, had decided upon the latter. He had also been left a small, saved-up fund of near $1,000, which originally would have gone to a very expensive piece of machinery that Dr. Julien had wanted to tinker with. As Zane had been surprised to discover, however, there was more than one piece of paper for the will. He'd read through the first and, at the very end of the page, saw that the second piece was meant for Wu, and that Zane was not to read it unless Wu decided otherwise. Other things had been left for the ninja, such as little trinkets that Dr. Julien had made. He'd left portions of Juggernaut, who guarded the treehouse before Zane discovered it, and several blueprints for inventions he never got to put together, which he thought the ninja would enjoy putting together. In the end, though, aside from the death itself, what bugged Zane the most was that there was something his father didn't trust to tell him. Wu had some extra piece of information and, despite Zane's pleas, had not been willing to tell Zane what was scribed on the aged piece of paper. Zane had eventually given up on asking, however. It was consoling to see what kinds of things his father had built and designed, and he enjoyed spending time in the old treehouse following his father's death. At least, as much as he could with all that in mind. He couldn't think of anything that Wu's piece of the will could hold, and Wu seemed unmovable in telling Zane, so he instead distracted himself with other things. He would re-read old letters from Dr. Julien, bond with his falcon, or study his own old blueprints and their notes. He'd discovered a few very fascinating things, functions he didn't understand, parts he didn't know he had. For example, he apparently had a sensitivity dial hidden closer to the front of his lower left abdomen. There were old journals explaining things like this, and he'd learned that Dr. Julien hadn't only built him for a companion and guardian. True, Dr. Julien had missed having a family, and was lonely with his trinkets and machines, so built Zane. In addition, the Birchwood forest could be very dangerous at times, so he needed a protection of sorts. But there were other things, too. Dr. Julien had come to decide that when he built Zane, he wanted to make him as human as possible. It had actually taken him a very long time to develop a proper method to create artificial intelligence, artificial emotion, and, for that matter, artificial pain. It was explained in the journal that Dr. Julien had wanted to experiment with this area a bit, wanting to see how well pain could be tolerated, thus why Zane had a sensitivity dial. There were 10 different levels, going from least to most sensitive. Level one was supposed to be average sensitivity, and each level's number following was the number of times more sensitive Zane would become when they were set. As it turned out though, Dr. Julien had grown to love and care for Zane much more than he had planned for, and couldn't bring himself to continue with this experiment of sorts. It would, however, explain some of Zane's earliest memories, in which things such as scraped knees and little cuts hurt immensely, and tickle fights were to the point of practically disabling him. (Though a little more reading proved that Dr. Julien had made him a bit extra ticklish anyway, just for the fun of it.) Discovering these sorts of things, and reading this old journal, had been comforting to Zane. There were even notes directed to him throughout the old book which he hadn't been shown before. Fond memories, traits Zane had gained, encouraging and loving sayings. Reading them made it seem almost like Dr. Julien hadn't passed at all, and made not knowing Wu's part of the will just a little more bearable. To go even further, the other ninja had been very supportive and delicate throughout the whole thing, always being extra sure to ask him how he was, that he got enough to eat, was resting properly. And as Zane began to recover, he also began to open up again, growing more eager each day to tell them the things he'd learned while he was at his father's treehouse. They'd even joked to repeat some of Dr. Julien's experiments, to which Zane shuddered. They would laugh and hug it out, becoming more light-hearted as Zane began to accept Dr. Julien's death. But, even when things seemed to be going back to normal, Zane remained dissatisfied. Just knowing that he was technically orphaned now, that the father he had grown to know and grow close to was gone... Yes, he'd begun to accept the death, but he had no living relations. His falcon was the closest he would ever get again. And while he called the other ninja his brothers, it just wasn't the same. It wasn't helping that Wu wouldn't tell him that last piece of the will, either. He felt unfulfilled, and it still hurt. Eventually, his visits to the treehouse became less frequent. He'd finished the journal, also bringing it back home, and had gone over just about every piece of machinery and blueprint in the old workshop. Now, he'd begun to run out of things to do. After the defeat of the Overlord, Lloyd became known as the Golden Ninja, and had gained nationwide fame. He was constantly going to shows, giving speeches, accepting rewards, performing demonstrations, or working with his father. He was virtually never home. On the plus side, there was also no danger for him to deal with, unless you counted fangirls. (Honestly, girls, we really are pretty scary, huh?) On the downside, it meant there was nothing to do. Ninjago city was safe and in the process of not only being rebuilt, but being majorly upgraded as well. The ninja watched as it became the picture of what they all imagined being the future. There were clean sources of fuel, automated history machines and guides, robotic workers for everything, hovering vehicles, magnetically charged street signs and stop lights. One of the most notable things was the one, massive, efficient power source, shared by absolutely everything electronic in Ninjago City. This combined with the fact that this fabled Overlord, the biggest, most powerful, most catastrophic villain Ninjago had ever seen being utterly defeated, made Ninjago the exact opposite of a target. All the bad guys had settled down. While this was very good news for Ninjago, making it safe and reliable for all its inhabitants, it meant the Ninja had absolutely nothing to do. They were unneeded in just about every way, though still praised loved by all the citizens. This is what led them to being teachers in Wu's new school. Followed by, of course, the fateful arrival of that life-shattering letter from the City Council. As a result, Zane now spent most of his time training. He didn't know what else to do with himself. It was always either working as a teacher, or training as a useless ninja. He'd done everything that could really have been done after Dr. Julien's death, and aside from cooking and training, he didn't really have any hobbies. There was always water meditation, but as the season began to grow cold, he found it harder to do so. Not that he couldn't, of course. He'd grown very skilled with working in cold water, but it was, indeed, more difficult, and most certainly not as safe for his health. (Even though Zane's a Nindroid and his element is Ice, I still like to think that he has his own body heat and has to maintain a proper temperature…) And so he trained harder. He'd virtually mastered every move he knew of, and continued to learn new ones, as well as make up his own. He became stronger, faster, and more focused. It was all well and good, but with no danger and no need for ninja, it didn't do him too much. Either way, this is what he did. He'd worked into a routine of wake up, eat, teach, train, eat, reminisce, sleep, and repeat. Weekends were a little different, of course, where he wouldn't have to teach, and he would spend that extra time either training even more or re-reading Dr. Julien's old journal. It was only a matter of time before he had the book memorized, or hurt himself through over-exertion in training. On one of these over-exerting weekends, he did just that. Naturally. "And just _how_ did you sprain your ankle, again?" Nya repeated, still skeptical. "The target board on the post was loose when I attempted to kick it. Resultantly, I had not rebounded as expected and I rolled my ankle upon landing on my feet." Zane explained. Nya shook her head. "Only you could manage to do something like that, Zane." She said, a hint of humor in her voice. Zane smiled gently. "I suppose so." "Hold still, please. It's kinda hard to twist wires back into place if you won't stop moving." "My apologies." Zane replied sheepishly, willing himself to keep still. "I'm not hurting you, am I?" Nya looking up at him from the ground, where she was working on his ankle. "It's not comfortable, but I'll live." He said from his spot on the couch. "Okay. Just let me know if I'm being too rough. I'm not exactly a robot, but I can't imagine that twisting wires inside one's leg _would_ be comfortable. Especially not with the complex nerve system Dr. Julien created for you." At the mention of his father, Zane's shoulders slumped slightly and his expression fell. "Oh. Sorry. I guess I can forget how much of a delicate subject that still is." Nya apologized. She sounded guilty. Truth was, most of the nina had forgotten. It had been a good month since they'd found out. "It's okay. I still miss him, but it is what it is. You cause no offense." Zane smiled reassuringly. Nya did the same. After a moment of silence, she exclaimed, "There! No more broken wires! Now we just need to patch up the skin and keep you off that ankle for a few days. That's gotta be a plus to being a Nindroid. Healing doesn't take as long with minor injuries!" Nya chuckled lightheartedly. "Minor ones, true. Thank you, Nya." Zane said respectfully. "No problem. Just try not to make it anything more than minor next time. Actually, I'd be pretty pleased if you just didn't hurt yourself at all, next time!" She laughed. Zane chuckled. "I'll do my best." He said with a grin. "And I wouldn't expect any less!" She added enthusiastically. As she began to patch Zane's ankle back together, a roll of bandages on the floor and at the ready, her expression became more serious. "Hey, Zane? If you ever, you know, need someone to talk to, you're welcome to come to me. I know it's not the same, but both my parents went missing when I was pretty little. To be honest, I don't think I was quite so close to either of them as you were to your father, but both Kai and I know what it's like to lost a parent." Zane wasn't sure what to say. It was so kind of her, and it was actually starting to make him somewhat… emotional. This kind of reaction from him wasn't usually easily evoked, and he wasn't certain how to express such feelings. It was a little uncharacteristic. "I… Thank you, Nya. I appreciate it and will keep that in mind." He said with genuity. Nya smiled warmly. A few more minutes of silence passed, and Nya had managed to get the bandage wrapped securely around Zane's ankle, studying her work as she finished. "Should be all ready to go! Just, not too fast. Or harsh. Actually, try not to walk on it tons. And maybe don't train till it's better!" She said, a pause between each sentence. Nya could really be a bit of a mother hen, sometimes. "Don't worry, Nya! I will be cautious." Zane assured. As he stood up, thanking her yet again, he decided it would be best to simply rest for the day. With that in mind, he turned for the largest room in the Destiny's Bounty, filled with video games, books, movies, snacks, and, what was now occupying his thoughts, his falcon and his father's journal. As he exited the room, he focused on his feet, watching to be sure he didn't step on his foot wrong and aggravate his sprain. He kept one hand on the wall, leaning on it heavily. But, seeing as how he wasn't looking where he was going, he pretty immediately bumped into someone already in the hallways. Looking up and uttering an apology without even thinking about it, he met the eyes of Sensei Wu, to which he began to apologize more excessively. "Forgive me, I wasn't looking where I was going. I was just going to the- to find the other ninja, I wasn't paying any attention, Sensei. I didn't mean to-" "Slow down, Zane. One apology is plenty. What have you done to your foot?" Wu asked, noticing the bandage. "I sprained my ankle whilst training." Zane said simply. "I see. Well, that's no good. I suggest you rest up, then." "Yes, Sensei." Zane replied. He clasped both hands in a respectful gesture and bowed, but stumbled on his ankle as he stood without his arm against the wall to support him. Before he could trip or fall, Wu grabbed onto his upper arm with both hands, pulling him straight so he could put his hand back against the wall. "Be careful, my student." Wu smiled sympathetically, and Zane sheepishly. "Thank you." Zane said with a chuckle. As he began his slow walk down the hallway, testing his balance without the extra support, Wu decided to walk beside him. "How are you persisting today?" He asked. "I am doing better. I miss my father, but I am… Okay." Zane answered. "Very good." Wu said delightedly. Zane looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't speak. "What is troubling you?" Wu asked, noting this. "There would be no point in asking you; you have already denied my request persistently." "Ah. The last piece of Dr. Julien's will, I presume. You will have to forgive me. For now, at least, all I can tell you is that I have promised to keep this piece of information undisclosed to you until the time is time will become ripe, but not now. And I do intend on keeping my word." Wu explained. "It is the most honorable thing to do. I just wish my father had trusted me enough to tell me himself. Not that it would matter now. It is impossible to ask him myself, considering that he is no longer here. Considering, that I don't… That I don't have a father, anymore." Zane said, turning his head away almost shamefully. "Nonsense, Zane. Perhaps Dr. Julien has passed on, but that does not mean you no longer have a father. He will always remain so as long as we remember him. Dr. Julien will always be your father. And you still have the Ninja. They are your brothers. Nya, your sister. And I will always be your mentor. We are your family." Wu said, putting a hand on Zane's shoulders. He'd adjusted enough to his ankle now that he no longer leaned on the wall. "But it's not the same thing. I care for each of you as such, and would call you family, but…" He trailed off. "But none of us is a direct relation. Not by blood, nor law, nor, in your case, creation. We are all surrogates. Dr. Julien was your father. He was your family." Zane nodded sadly. As they reached the end of the hall, he pushed open the door to the room he'd been seeking, and smiled slightly at Wu. "Yes. And now that I do not have Dr. Julien, I feel as though I do not have family." He said with finality. Before Wu could really respond, Zane turned around and walked into the room, not bothering to close or open farther the door. He sat down on a couch, and sighed, hunching his shoulders. It wasn't often he confided something like that in anyone, much less his Sensei. He'd grown to trust Wu, though. He trusted him differently than he trusted anyone else, and didn't feel quite so uncomfortable as he would with the other ninja. Still though, he felt it was more than enough to confess to someone in a day. As he pulled out his father's journal once more, calling his falcon via wireless connection at the same time, Zane settled into the couch as comfortably as he could. Wu watched him, concern bubbling in his mind. He hadn't wanted to aggravate Zane, but he now held a very important bit of information. Like he had said, he intended on keeping his word. He was going to see Dr. Julien's plan through, and what Zane had just admitted had taken it a step closer to its end. The time was nearly ripe. 


	5. Not Alone Part 2

"Hey Zane, what's up?" Jay greeted cheerfully, walking into the entertainment room. Zane had only been there an hour or so since he'd been talking to Sensei Wu.

"I'm just reading." He said dismissively, eyes never leaving the journal in his hands. His falcon sat comfortably on the back of the couch, perched so he could look over Zane's shoulder.

"Whatcha do to your ankle?" Jay asked, not liking the quiet.

"I sprained it while I was training."

"Bummer. Find anything new in there?" Jay sat on the couch beside Zane and craned his head slightly.

"I don't think I did. Though I suppose there could be hidden meanings, and there are plenty of things I have yet to tell you." Zane answered thoughtfully. He looked up a little, resting the book on his lap.

"Really?" Jay sat up eagerly and attentively. Zane chuckled a little at his enthusiasm.

"In one of my father's entries, it mentioned that I had another experimental function similar to the sensitivity dial I told you about. It was more of a lever though, if I recall correctly. The difference for this one was that the sensitivity affected me emotionally, and not physically." He explained.

"Fascinating! Did he ever use it?"

"Quite often. It was predominantly during the time in which he also tested with my physical sensitivity, but he didn't shut it off immediately as he did the other, because he knew it wouldn't have the same kind of effect."

"Makes sense. There are plenty of emotional pains, as I'm sure you've come to know, but I think the majority of us are most affected by sadness and happiness. As long as their for the right reasons, they're pretty quick to overcome." Jay speculated. He'd moved so he was cross-legged on the couch, leaning forward and with his head in his hands, elbows resting on his knees. As he spoke, though, he sat up a little more, and used his arms for exaggeration.

"Exactly. It did begin to get fairly irritating, though. Especially when he was using both sensitivity functions at once. Whenever I hurt myself, not only would it be unnecessarily painful, but it also became an over-the-top emotional situation. Though a bit embarrassing, I must admit that I did tend to cry a lot when the function was activated, which only made my irritation grow." Zane rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Ha ha! Man, I guess I can see that. Dr. Julien must have had his hands full."

The two went silent for a moment, both thinking distractedly. Zane was remembering what it was way back when, as he'd made a habit of, but Jay looked like he wanted to say something.

"Hey, Zane?" He asked after a moment. Zane looked at him, curiosity and comprehension showing in his expression.

"What was it like before you found out about Dr. Julien? When you couldn't remember him?" Jay asked slowly He seemed uncertain, like he was afraid he was pushing boundaries.

"Before I could remember? I… Don't know." Zane paused for a moment, putting a hand on his chin as he thought.

"I almost don't remember what it felt like. I can't remember all the way back to right after my switch was flipped. It was like… Like having amnesia, I suppose. Which makes sense, considering I had technically had my memories made inaccessible. I figured I must have had something happen to me when I was little. I thought that, maybe, I just couldn't remember being a child. And I assumed my parents had died, or gone missing, or that they couldn't keep me as a child and so gave me away or left me to fend for myself. I couldn't remember being under the care of anyone, ever, except for myself. I would roam from one village to another, and I always had the urge to take care of anyone who couldn't do so for themselves."

A memory flashed in Zane's mind, something he'd heard from his father multiple times.

' _You were made to protect those who cannot protect themselves.'_

Zane sighed a little. Before Jay could tell him that it was okay and that he didn't have to keep going, he continued.

"I remember that when I was in the water, especially cold water, I felt both at peace and at war with myself. The outside world would be blurred, both visually and audibly. It always felt like I was on the verge of remembering something important, but I never could quite remember. I was drawn to the idea that I would be able to remember my childhood and my family if I could be at peace long enough in the water. If I could overcome the conflict in my mind. I was convinced that if I could just meditate long enough in a place that no one could disturb me, I would remember and I would feel settled. All I wanted to know was where I came from. It was oftentimes lonely, and I would feel abandoned and unloved. I wasn't disliked by those I met, but I wasn't necessarily liked either. People would get excited when I was prepared to attempt breaking a water meditation record, but would leave, unenthusiastically, when I finished, whether or not I'd been successful. And the more I tried to remember, the longer it took me to expand my meditation time and to overcome conflict with peace, the harder it got. The longer I had to wait, and the more I focused on this idea that water meditation would solve my problems, the more anxious I became to try and remember.

"I did eventually give up, though. When I could never break that point of almost remembering, I began to think it useless. So I simply focused on breaking my own record time and time again. I focused more on the meditation than anything. There was a day that I'd been in meditation, and wondering to myself what I was really meant to do. If I couldn't even remember where I'd come from, what was the point? I was questioning myself. But it was that day that I met Sensei Wu. He quite surprised me when I opened my eyes and took note of the fact that there had been another person sitting beside me. My first thought was that he looked at peace with himself, as I had been trying to be. He sat calmly. He didn't even look like he was trying. It fascinated me. What had me startled was when he poured his tea, which, no matter how I try to extend my logic parameters, makes no sense. And then he proceeded to drink out of the cup, which only served to confuse me further. It was that day I met you and Cole. Soon following, we met Kai, and then, of course, Nya. I suppose you should know the rest of story as well as I do."

As Zane finished his reminiscent background story, he turned his head back to his book. He didn't read it, but simply stared at it, still in thought. It was such a strange time, to have learned to accept that he didn't have a blood family, and that he'd taken the ninja as a surrogate family instead.

Jay had shifted onto his stomach, legs bent and resting on the armrest of the couch, whilst his head sat in his hands. He'd been listening to Zane intently, breathing in every word. He hadn't gotten around to what he really wanted to tell Zane though.

"Why do you ask?" Zane said suddenly, in response to the question he was answering. Jay stifled a laugh, Zane giving him a funny look. It was quite a long-winded answer, but Zane still seemed to remember why he'd been explaining his past and even kept in mind to ask why.

As Jay gathered himself, he said, "I was wondering about it. I just… I've had a family my whole life. Every second of memory was from a time when I had parens. Even now. They've been supportive and kind and loving… I never had to wonder where my next meal was coming from, or whether or not I'd be able to have decent clothing, or whether we could afford to have clean drinking water pumped to our house. Or even if I would have a house to live in. We weren't exactly rich, but I always had enough. Earlier today, though, it occurred to me that… That there was a time you never knew. I don't know if it was _that_ hard for you, but before you found out about your father, you said to us that you'd been an orphan your entire life. It finally dawned on me that you'd been without parents nearly your whole life, and I don't really think you'd accepted any of us as family until a good few months had passed. I just wanted to know what it was like, just a little bit, to not grow up the way I did."

Zane looked at him uncertainly before saying, "I share your… curiosity. I never thought about how you'd grown up so differently than I."

Jay smiled warmly.

"Aww, you guys!" An extra voice exclaimed. Zane and Jay both turned, utterly startled, to see Kai, Cole, and Lloyd sitting at the door, similar expressions of admiration and attentiveness to Jay's. Had they been there the whole time?

"WHAT?! Have you guys been eavesdropping _this whole TIME?!"_ Jay leapt up from his spot, throwing his arms into the air exasperatedly.

"You guys are _so_. RUDE!" He blurted out.

"H-how much did you hear?" Zane asked quietly. It wasn't that he didn't like the others hearing, he just preferred to know when there was more than one in his audience. Jay asked him specifically, so he poured out his gushy story on him, and _everyone_ was listening?

"All the way back to ' _What was it like before you found out about Dr. Julien?_ '" Kai said, imitating Jay's voice.

"I don't sound like that!" Jay complained.

"Oh, shut up, you totally do." Cole said. The three eavesdroppers stood up and walked in, not giving Jay, who huffed and folded his arms, a chance to argue.

"Did you really grow up like that?" Kai asked.

"Yeah. It's not as bad as it could have been, though." Zane answered nonchalantly.

"Naw, maybe not, but I never knew you thought about that sort of thing so often. I always saw you as calm and collected." Cole commented.

"I suppose I'm fairly skilled in making myself appear so." Zane mused. The group chuckled.

From the doorway, Wu stood watching. The group continued to chatter on, and he smiled contentedly. He would continue to hold a fondness for every one of the adolescents stood in the room before him. And he was glad to see Zane getting better.

By now, it was only a matter of days before he would be ready.

"Eavesdropping, are we?" A voice near him spoke. Wu turned around.

"Misako." He greeted.

"Don't worry; me too." She chuckled lightly.

"I am pleased to see their admiration for each other grow, especially as Zane continues to get better."

"I would have to agree. Have you told Zane about your piece of the will, yet?" She asked. Wu sighed, sounding almost disappointed.

"No, not yet. Very soon, though." He answered, turning around and away from the door. Misako followed.

"You sound worried." She pointed out.

"I am. Dr. Julien wanted me to go through with this, but I cannot determine whether Zane will react positively or not." He replied, stroking his beard as he thought.

"Maybe not, but if his father believes it is best for him, the only thing you can do is carry out this plan and see what happens." Misako said, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Of course. Thank you, Misako." Wu smiled gratefully.  
"Anytime, Wu. Zane means just as much to me as he does to any of the others. And even the wise, old Master Wu needs encouragement from time to time." She smiled in return. Wu simply nodded his agreement.

* * *

As another week passed, Zane and the other ninja had each had their chance to bond with the other, bringing them all closer as a whole. And Zane himself was finally becoming able to cope with the loss of his father.

At one point, Nya and Kai had spent some time with him, showing him how they coped with growing up without parents, and still managed to run a blacksmith shop. Being that there were two of them, Kai, the elder, took role of parent and watched after Nya from the moment he realized that they were alone.

"We were just playing one day, while our parents were working. I don't know what happened, but at one point, they were just… gone." Kai explained.

Nya had never thought of him as a parent, but most certainly an older brother. She'd gained the mindset that older brothers just came that way. Kai spent every day pouring over his father's books and designs, teaching himself, and, eventually, Nya, how to blacksmith. Growing up, they'd burnt themselves plenty, as you can imagine, but did actually figure out how to create tools and weapons. When they were still little, the town's people took pity on them and were pretty constant in making sure they had food and clothing to keep them going. As they got to be old enough to create and repair tools, selling them for decent prices even, Kai took charge of budgeting and became the one making sure they always had enough. It hadn't even really occurred to Nya for the longest time that she might not have a home or food to eat if it weren't for her brother.

Kai had even taken it upon himself to do all the little in betweens, kissing scrapes better, tucking his sister in for bedtime, buying her toys from time to time. For Nya, who didn't know her parents very well at all, she hadn't missed too much of what it was to have a parent. Kai, however, had. The difference was that his parents had left a fully functioning shop which he learned to utilize, placed in the middle of the friendliest villages in the whole of Ninjago. He'd learned to make a spot for he and his sister growing up without parents, but Zane hadn't.

Then Jay, of course, had already related his story to him. He'd always had both his parents. He'd always had one home. He'd always had everything that he truly needed in life, and it was always enough for him. It made him humble. The only thing he ever wondered about, except for the cool toys they couldn't afford when he was little, was what it was like not to have that kind of comfort, which he learned from Zane.

Cole, though, had almost an entirely different story. It was similar, in many ways, but almost the exact opposite, too.

Thing was, when Cole was little, his mother had passed away, rather than his father. He grew up somewhere in between. They had a nice home and more than enough food for their little family of two. His father, a different kind of "Blacksmith," had made a name for himself. He and the rest of his group, the Royal Blacksmiths, constantly had shows they performed at. So, despite the attention from his father, and the wealthy amount of schooling and good living conditions, Cole was often left home alone.

His father was rather a good guy, but didn't really know how to be the same kind of affectionate parent that most had. Firm, back-breaking hugs were about as close as he got. He was a right-jolly guy, too, and payed for any kind of classes Cole wanted to take, dance being the only one he enforced. Cole'd grown up more rugged because he never had the same kind of comfort from his father. "Goodnight"s were rather brief and meals were lonesome. It was a bit of a strange relationship he had with his father, but not necessarily a bad one.

In the way that they were similar, both Cole and Zane had never known their mothers, Zane still unsure as to whether he ever even had one. What made it different was how Zane had thought he'd grown up alone. When he'd first been activated, his father was encouraging and kind and affectionate. When his memory had been flipped he'd thought he was alone, simply roaming from one place to the next, as he'd explained to Jay. It wasn't quite the same, but Zane was glad to know that Cole understood what it was like to have a father, but feel alone at the same time.

It took him long enough, but at this point, Zane had nearly forgotten about the piece of the will that Wu had. And he'd finally learned not to care anymore. If his father had something he didn't want Zane to know, he had to respect that.

Little did he know, that was _exactly_ what Wu was waiting for. Rather, that was what _Dr. Julien_ was having _Wu_ wait for. It may not have been completely necessary to wait so long, and it likely wouldn't have quite the same effect that Dr. Julien had wanted at this point, but regardless, that's what was going to happen.

Wu himself had actually been unsure of this plan, but Dr. Julien seemed to have had this planned for a long time. In fact, the both of them had had it in mind for a very long time, far before the old tinkerer's passing.

And that had to be good enough.

* * *

A few more days more passed and it had officially been two months since Dr. Julien's death. Or, at least, since the announcement of his death. If he really thought about it, Zane actually didn't know if he'd died in the same day that the announcement was made. It was an odd thought, but after this time, he'd learned to overcome the grief that came with those kinds of occurrences.

These were the kinds of thoughts that passed his mind as he awoke one morning, thankfully a weekend. As life went on, he had to continue being a teacher in Wu's school, though the world of crime seemed to take pity on him, as being a teacher was the _only_ other responsibility expected of him up until he could start functioning more clearly again.

"Morning, Zane!" Kai greeted cheerfully, peeking his head over the edge of the top bunk. Zane almost flinched, remembering his dream.

 _But this isn't a dream, and Kai means no harm._ He reminded himself.

"Good morning, Kai." He replied after a moment. Kai chuckled and jumped down to the floor.

"How's that sprain doing?" He asked casually as he walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Standing up, Zane turned around and grabbed onto the corners of his bedsheets to straighten them out.

"It has almost no effect anymore. I believe it would be safe to remove the bandage later today." He answered, moving his pillow to the side as he fixed his blanket.

"That's great!" Kai exclaimed cheerfully. Zane smiled gratefully. It wasn't really a big deal, but he appreciated the notion. These little things the other ninja came up with throughout the day to check on him really helped.

After a few seconds of silence, aside from the shuffling of fabric and running of the sink, Kai suddenly cleared his throat.

"Hey, uh, Zane?" He asked, almost nervously. Zane hummed in response, indicating he was listening.

"You think you'd be up to a picnic later?" Zane almost stopped what he was doing. It wasn't all that odd of a question, and he'd gotten pretty used to the questions directed to him starting with 'think you'd be up to,' but it seemed a little bit out of the blue. And, based on Kai's skeptical tone of voice, it probably was. Something about it was just… strange. But not strange enough, nor taxing enough, to turn down.

"I suppose so. Where will we be going?" He asked curiously, as he finished with his bed.

"Erm… I don't know. You'll have to ask Sensei." Kai answered, suddenly sounding just as curious as Zane.

"Hm. Alright. Where has everyone else gone?" Zane stretched out a bit, grabbing his own toothbrush from a bag in his dresser before turning toward the bathroom as well.

"They're already up. You seemed really tired last night, so we let you sleep in a bit. Cole's in charge of breakfast today. And wouldn't you believe it, it's actually _edible._ " Kai explained, chuckling at his own joke. Zane smiled amusedly. As he took his spot next to Kai, he paused.

"How did you know? Didn't you only just wake up?" He asked, this time it being his turn to sound skeptical.

Kai choked. The scrubbing motion of his hand as he brushed his teeth stopped abruptly and he started coughing, a look of horror written on his face.

"Erm, heh- Uh… It was… I- Heh-" He stuttered for a moment. He rinsed briefly with a cup of water before coughing and turning to look at Zane, a look of both confidence and uneasiness making itself clear in both his voice and his stance. Then, with more confidence than he obviously had, he said,

"After I ate breakfast, I came back in here to take a nap. See, when you woke up, it woke me, and I figured I best get up…"

Zane eyed him up and down, not really believing him. And now that he thought about it, Kai was even already dressed for the day. Had he been... _waiting_ for him? And if he thought about it more, he realized that Kai didn't generally brush his teeth until _after_ he'd eaten in the morning, quite unlike most the other ninja, Zane included.

Instead of commenting on it, he simply shrugged and went on to brush his teeth. Kai let out a quiet sigh of relief, which didn't go unnoticed. As Kai had suggested earlier, he'd have to ask Sensei Wu.

* * *

Zane walked into the dining room, dressed for the day and teeth brushed.

"Mornin', Zane!" Jay waved energetically as he closed the door behind him.

"Good morning, Jay." Zane answered, smiling broadly. He was actually feeling remarkably cheerful today.

"Oh-hoa, looks like _someone's_ in a good mood!" Cole commented, laughing a little from his spot at the table. A stack of simple pancakes sat on a cooling tray in front of him. They smelled delicious, and, to everyone's amusement, Cole was even wearing the silly, frilly, pink apron from the kitchen. (Just imagine, fangirls…)

"I suppose I am. I'm feeling much better today." Zane replied, grin unfaltering.

"Ah, Zane, you're up!" Wu exclaimed from behind the group. Zane turned to see Wu enter the room, then nodded his head toward the elderly man in a respectful manner.

"I am glad to see you're feeling better today, if I presume correctly." Wu smiled warmly.

"You do. I'm feeling remarkably refreshed." Zane said simply, gesturing with his hands to the room around him.

"Have you eaten, yet?" Wu crossed his hands behind his back in a more thoughtful posture. His expression had become almost worried.

"No. But I was intending on doing so." Zane said. He looked oddly at Wu, unsure as to the sudden change in mood.

"Ah. Good. Very good. Please do so." Without another word, or time left for Zane to say anything about it, Wu turned around and left the room, his expression becoming even more grim. He looked like he was anticipating something, but not something good. And he didn't seem to want anyone to see his concern.

"Did something happen?" Zane asked, turning back to the table. "Is Sensei alright?" He was surprised to see similar expressions of confusion around the rest of the room. Each held not only confusion, but just a touch of guilt. It left Zane with the feeling that there was something they were hiding from him, especially when none of them could seem to come up with a proper excuse.

"Is there something I don't know?" He asked. What was it that they couldn't trust him with? He couldn't recall this happening before, except for a surprise party they'd put together for his birthday a good number of months before. And even then, he'd never felt quite so… left out about it. It hadn't happened with anyone he knew, really. Not them, not any of the minimal friends he'd made traveling from town to town, not Sensei Wu. So why did it feel so…

Familiar?

Was that the right word?

Yes. Definitely. It _had_ happened before, but when? They were keeping _something_ from him, and he just couldn't pin down what it was. And he couldn't figure out when exactly before he'd had something kept from him.

Why did it _hurt_ so much?! _**Urg**_ , now he was just confused! What couldn't they trust him with? It couldn't be another surprise party. They wouldn't do that two years in a row, and his birthday was still a few months off anyway. And none of their birthdays was coming up, either. Heck, even if one had, they would tell him about whatever they were planning.

Why couldn't they trust him?! Did he do something wrong?

As his thoughts started racing, he creased his eyebrows frustratedly. This was a _bad_ kind of familiar.

And suddenly, he knew it. His mouth opened a little and his shoulders slacked, his arms falling limp at his sides.

He'd nearly forgotten by now. But it was just like when he'd discovered there was something in Dr. Julien's will that he wasn't allowed to know. He thought he'd finally gotten over that.

But it hurt so _much_ now.

"Zane? You alright, buddy?" Kai surprised him, stepping in through the door just behind Zane. Zane jumped a little bit and blinked a few times before simply leaving the room. He'd lost his appetite.

"Zane!" Kai called after him as he walked away from the dining room and towards their shared bedroom, without even thinking about it.

There was a pretty extreme _Déjà vu_ about all of this. And it set off all the _wrong_ things. Even though he'd begun to heal from the loss of his father, it felt just the same, _all over again_. A wave of negative emotion hit him, almost physically, as he felt a near repeat of the day he read that letter.

It was the same thing…. All over again…

He'd woken up, on a weekend, in a spectacularly _good_ mood. The positive atmosphere of a room, in which he sat with all his friends, became something else entirely as he realized something that hurt him and he was so unaware of _how_ he was supposed to react to it that he _didn't._ He couldn't talk, so he walked out and went to the first place that popped into his head.

The first time it happened, he ran, _sprinted_ , all the way to the treehouse in the Birchwood forest. This time, he was aiming for his room. But he didn't make it quite that far.

"Zane, hold up!" Kai called, he and the other ninja running out to help. Zane had stopped himself right at the edge of the deck. Simply stood there, staring down at the ground, covered in melting snow and ice. He was gripping the deck hard enough that his knuckles had gone white.

"Are you alright?" Kai placed a hand on Zane's shoulder, squeezing it gently in an attempt to get his attention. When Zane didn't say anything, eyes darting back and forth as he mumbled something to himself, Kai grabbed onto his other shoulder and pulled him around to face his direction.

"What?" Zane asked confusedly, eyes widening. Kai breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't _do_ that!" He cried out, leaning forward somewhat.

"I'm sorry." Zane said. He felt… small. Was that even a thing?

"We were worried! Are you alright?" Kai all but demanded. The others crowded around him with similar expressions of concern.

"I-" Zane started. He couldn't think of anything to say.

"Here, let's just get you some breakfast." Kai stood up straight and gestured back to the dining room. Lloyd moved to Zane's other side and each put one of their hands on the Nindroid's back, pushing him gently forwaryd. Zane didn't say anything, but simply walked with them, unsure of how he felt at all anymore.

"I'm not hungry. I need to talk to Sensei." He said monotonously, struggling to turn around. Jay jumped in where he was trying to turn and blocked the way. As Zane turned to go the other direction, he realized Cole had done the same thing. He was blocked in, on a path straight to the dining room.

"Uh, sorry, Zane! Sensei said you had to eat breakfast before anything else this morning!" Jay said, doing his best to sound upbeat. Why was it so important that he eat? They hadn't done something to his food, had they?

"I promise it's not poisoned!" Cole added with a nervous chuckle, as if he could read Zane's thoughts. Sighing, Zane trudged along, not quite sure what to think of the situation.

"Don't worry, Zane. They're just worried because you were up so late last night. Wu had actually wanted to talk to you about something today, but he suggested you rest and eat first. I think they're just being a bit overprotective after everything that's happened." Nya explained sympathetically. Zane relaxed at this, his head clearing a bit. Though he still felt a little bit on edge, he walked more willingly, breathing out as though he'd been holding his breath. Each body around him relaxed visibly, though Zane hadn't noticed.

They managed to get Zane to the dining room, and he ended up eating enough pancakes to last him a week.

Following breakfast, they absolutely _insisted_ on him playing video games with them, something they hadn't done together in a couple of weeks. After that, they had him re-go over his father's journal, each listening to him re-read it contentedly. _Then_ they dragged him into the kitchen to help make sandwiches for the picnic Kai had mentioned that morning.

It seemed so strange, at first, that they wanted him to do all these things. Most the time, they were off doing their own things. Training, playing video games, reading comic books, just whatever it was they liked doing. On occasion, they would do things two or three people together, and they were constantly passing each other and doing daily training sessions altogether besides, but to do so many things together in one day was… strange. Even if he'd had a rough morning, Zane had recovered enough that he didn't think they would put so much effort into making sure he had proper company.

By the time they were ready for the picnic, however, he'd forgotten about how strange it seemed. Honestly, he'd begun to enjoy the day. He was still a little jittery from that morning, but he enjoyed his time with his brothers. Uh, and sister.

Thing was, that was the point. It wasn't that the ninja didn't like spending time with Zane, even altogether like this, but these different activities were very much on purpose. They were planned, and Zane was well fed and relaxed for a reason.

The picnic, as you may or may not have guessed, also had a very definite purpose. And as well as the day had been going so far, Zane was in for a surprise. Not necessarily bad, but not good, either.

* * *

"Hurry up, Zane!"

"Yeah, don't want to keep Sensei waiting!"

Zane chuckled at the antics of his brothers. Jay had grabbed onto Zane's arm, much like a child, and gently pulled him along, a goofy smile adorning his face. Kai had grabbed onto their picnic basket, which really just looked like a stereotyped basket you would see in the movies, and carried it along as the ninja stumbled over each other in an energetic race for end of the path.

As spring began settling in, green grass and bright pink cherry blossoms surrounded the dirt trail which the ninja and their Sensei travelled on. It was a few miles long, starting at the far edge of the park in the outskirts of Ninjago city, leading to a small meadow-like area in which the group had planned to picnic.

"Settled, guys! It's just a picnic. I don't think we're really in all that much of a rush." Nya commented, though hiding a giggle herself.

"Eh, whatever. We're taking a day off, who says we can't be a little crazy?" Cole said from beside Nya. He wasn't quite so energetic as the other ninja, instead choosing to walk beside Nya, Wu, and Zane, but was enjoying the overall goofiness of the situation regardless.

It was a bit like when they'd first met as a group, Zane decided. Maybe not the first time, but when they were walking side by side, telling each others' stories on how they'd met Sensei Wu and become ninja. They were messing around plenty, but still took their work seriously.

"Where has your mind wandered to, Zane?" Wu asked suddenly. It sounded like an odd question until you considered the fact that Zane had completed dazed off. He had been feeling kind of tired.

"I was just thinking." He answered.

"What about?" Jay asked, turning on his heal and slowing down so he could walk beside Zane.

"About when we met and how we used to bond when we didn't know each other well." Zane replied honestly. He smiled, remembering all over again what it felt like to meet and bond with his brothers.

"Oh! I remember! Like, when we were still looking for the golden weapons?" Jay asked enthusiastically. Zane chuckled.

"The very same." He said.

"Ha! Yes! Hey, remember all the different ways we met Sensei?" Jay continued.

"How could we forget?" Kai almost rolled his eyes, slowing down to walk with the rest of the group.

"I'll still never be able to figure out how he did what he did…" Cole half-whispered, leaning forward and cupping a hand over his mouth as he did so. This time Kai _did_ roll his eyes.

"Well, at least some of them are explicable. I mean, he was just sitting behind a billboard when he met me. And we've already learned all the things he did when he rescued and met Kai. Heck, even sitting on the edge of a cliff when he met Cole doesn't sound surprising anymore!" Jay listed.

"Yeah. When he met Nya, though, I could never figure out how he could fight using his shadow. The only logic in that is the fact that Garmaddon's physical energy had been banished to another real. The only way he _could_ show up was in shadow form, but it still doesn't make sense." Kai remembered.

"And it doesn't need to." Wu butt in.

"Maybe not. But you know what _really_ gets me?" Cole clasped his hands for exaggeration, the others waiting for him to continue.

"How did he manage to pour _tea_ ," He paused. " _Underwater?!"_ The group burst into laughter at the ridiculousness of the thought. They'd given up on trying to explain _that one_ a long time ago.

"Heh, sorry my 'how I met Sensei' story can't be as interesting as any of yours. He's my Uncle. I've known him for pretty much as long as I can remember. I'm told I first met him during a rainstorm when I was only two. My Mom was on the way from Ninjago City to her own home, which was outside the city. It got stormy enough that she had to find a place to stop, and it just happened to be my uncle's home that was closest." Lloyd explained.

"Not quite. That was our second encounter, and you were only a year old, not two." Wu said. He was walking slightly behind the group, but walked forward now to join the conversation. As he did so, the ninja watched him eagerly, wanting to hear more.

"I met you, Lloyd, on the day you were born. You most certainly shouldn't be able to remember that, and your mother likely doesn't remember either. Misako was very drowsy that day, and hardly remembers getting up that morning. I was there to support her, as was my brother."

"Huh. I never knew." Lloyd said thoughtfully.

"No, I wouldn't expect you to. It was only weeks after your birth that Garmaddon was overwhelmed by the venom running through his veins which turned him evil. But if you were to ask him, he would remember that day just as vividly as I."

"That's… kind of cool, actually." Lloyd decided.

Before anyone else could comment or bring up another story, Wu walked up and stood right beside Zane.

"Zane, may I speak with you a moment?" He asked. It sounded like a rhetorical question, but Zane nodded anyway. Wu gestured to the space ahead of the still chattering group, and the two sped up a little, out of earshot of the others.

"Is something the matter, Sensei?" Zane asked. He held a genuine curiosity in his eyes.

"No, no." Wu responded. A troubled look remained in the old Master's expression, but he continued anyway.

"I heard earlier that you wanted to speak with me?" He asked, sounding uncertain.

"Ah- Yes, I did." Zane said, quietly. Wu turned to him expectantly, and Zane began to explain how odd he thought the behavior of the ninja that morning had been. They'd been so insistent on everything.

Wu, in response, explained the same thing that Nya had earlier.

"Yesterday was a very busy day. Perhaps you will recall how late we returned? You were awake latest. Your brothers have been hyper-aware of your state of wellbeing as of late because of your reaction to your father's death. I believe they were simply being overprotective."

"I… suppose. It makes sense. I still wonder, though, why are we picnicking today? Would not next Saturday have been better?" Zane responded.

"I have plans for next weekend. This Saturday was more convenient due to the fact that not one of us has outside plans." Wu explained.

"How did you know?" Zane turned his head curiously.

"Zane, when you get to be as old as I am, you tend to become far more observant of the actions of those around you." Wu said simply. Zane opened his mouth to say something back, a confused expression already on his face, but Wu stopped suddenly, folding his hands behind his back and looking up at something. Zane followed his gaze, catching sight of a massive tree a bit off to the side of the trail. It looked to be an Oak tree, and it absolutely towered over the two, its leaves and bark very healthy, rich colors. Zane looked at it, half in awe, and smiled gently.

"Here we are!" Wu declared. "Now, who has the basket?" He turned around, looking at Zane, who shook himself out of his awe, expectantly. Zane looked about himself briefly before shrugging.

"I believe Kai was the one who had it last." He said. As he turned around to call Kai, however, the red ninja was nowhere to be found. In fact, _none_ of the ninja could be seen, Nya included.

"Where-?" Zane uttered the unfinished, unanswered, question. He began to turn back to Wu but gasped as he was _tackled_ to the ground.

Zane struggled, wiggling between the surprisingly strong arms of Wu himself. He looked up at the old master with shocked and questioning eyes. _What's happening?!_ Was the unspoken question.

"Forgive me, Zane." Wu said. As he pressed Zane more firmly in place, he pulled open the panel on the Nindroid's chest, which only proved to cause Zane more panic.

"Sensei- What are you- Ow!" Zane yelped when Wu reached in at the left of where his belly button would have been and grabbed onto something, pulling the item out roughly. Several wires, which were previously attached to whatever her'd pulled out, broke off and snapped back into their place in Zane's abdomen, causing him to yell out.

As Zane continued to struggle, Wu reached back at the broken wires and did his best to twist the broken ends together, knowing full well that Jay or Nya could create a more permanent fix later. One wire, two wires, three, four, five, repaired. Zane jerked painfully with each one, but as Wu got to the sixth and last one, Zane let out another shout, then froze suddenly.

As the last wire was put back after being repaired, Zane completely calmed, going limp in Wu's grasp. He stopped struggling altogether and leaned back against the ground. His face became blank and his vision going white.


	6. Not Alone Part 3

_Zane stood outside the door of his father's workshop in the birchwood forest. It was snowing lightly, the sky completely white with winter clouds. He knocked three times, waiting as several clatters were heard inside._

 _The door creaked open to reveal Dr. Julien, smiling gleefully._

" _Ah! Zane! I'm so glad you could make it!" He grinned, opening his arms and rushing forward to hug Zane._

" _Of course, father! You said it was important." Zane, though delighted to be meeting with his father, held a more serious air about him._

" _Yes, yes, I did. Please, step inside!" Dr. Julien insisted, stepping aside and opening the door farther. Zane nodded and walked in through the door, looking around at the recently cleaned home._

" _Now, if you'll just follow me down to my workshop, Zane, I have something very important to discuss with you." Dr. Julien said, clasping his hands. He still held a positive tone, but something in his expression faltered slightly, like he was worried, or nervous._

" _Is something the matter?" Zane asked worriedly, following his father down the long, winding staircase. As they reached the bottom, Zane took note of the multiple blueprints scattered about the work desk in the corner of the room. There were pencils and erasers and measuring tools of all sorts strewn about._

 _Typically, especially for an inventor, this wasn't an odd thing, but his father tended to get messier and messier when he was really involved in a project. Based on the scrap metal, paper, tools, and many, many presumed prototypes sitting around the desk, Zane guessed that this was one of those projects. He chuckled a little, a fondness for his father's passion showing itself._

 _As he turned to look around the room further, he was surprised a little to see Wu standing in the opposite corner of the room._

" _Nothing is wrong, quite, Zane, but this is a very serious matter, and it requires your full attention." Dr. Julien said, walking to stand beside Wu, who looked somewhat unsure of himself._

" _I understand." Zane replied, not sure what else to say._

" _Good. Very good, actually. Before we get started, I need you to understand just a few critical things." The tinkerer paused, watching Zane. "First, when we are finished, you will leave with no memory of what we did."_

 _Zane nodded, an uneasiness settling in his stomach. Dr. Julien eyed him, then continued._

" _Second, I need you to remain as calm as you can be while we discuss the situation."_

 _Zane nodded again._

" _And third, know that everything we do today…" Dr. Julien paused a moment._

" _...is out of love for you. Understand, Zane?"_

 _Once more, Zane nodded, curiosity and worry suddenly very intense in his gut._

 _Surprising him, Dr. Julien started laughing._

" _Relax, Zane! Yes, this is a serious matter, but we aren't doing anything illegal!"_

 _Zane's eyes widened slightly before he realized how stiff he'd gotten and he chuckled lightly with his father. Even Sensei Wu smiled a little. Dr. Julien took a breath and calmed himself, turning back to Zane._

" _Now, Zane, I need you to come to terms with something with me. You understand how old I am growing, yes?" Dr. Julien's tone of voice went very quickly from being almost bubbly to be being more solemn. Zane, in response, frowned and looked at Dr. Julien worriedly. Slowly, he nodded._

" _Good. It is a hard thing to accept, but I will not live forever. I am nearing my 80's now, and I cannot say how much longer I will be here."_

 _Zane nodded, looking at the ground._

" _I could be here for as little as two months. Or I may even last another ten years. And then again, I could just as easily lose my life today. I am simply getting too old, and the conditions of that tower I lived in were too poor. Not to mention my family history of having heart issues. I expect that, one day, these things will catch up to me, and my body will not be strong enough to withstand them." Dr. Julien explained._

" _I understand." Zane said quietly._

" _Good. I'm sorry to grieve you with these things, but the topic of your required presence has to do with this. Admittedly," Dr. Julien paused, chuckling to himself, "I am a terrible procrastinator. I am as old as I am, and I have yet to write my will."_

 _Zane looked up at him curiously, apparently not expecting this news. In the background, Wu smiled amusedly to himself._

" _I know that most have been known to write their wills personally, on their own, but I also feel that I wouldn't be able to include you adequately without your help. Now, before you say anything about it, yes, I do need your help with certain details, but the biggest matter at hand is a very specific piece of the will I indtend on passing to your teacher, Wu, but it needs your approval."_

" _My approval? What is it?" Zane, his curiosity piqued, took a few steps forward, glancing around._

" _Ah, yes, heh, this is where I am uncertain." Dr. Julien rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Zane, when I die, what will you do?" He asked, very seriously. To Zane, it sounded more… rhetorical. But the expression on his father's face said otherwise._

" _I… Don't know. I cannot be sure. The first time I discovered the treehouse, and my memory switch, I relived everything I grew up with. I was sad, but I felt at peace because I finally knew where'd I'd come from, who my family was. And I'd made a family out of my Sensei, and my fellow students." Zane gave Wu a warm smile, which Wu returned fondly. "The difference now is that I already have that peace, and I've bonded with you enough to call you my father. It would be the same for me as if Kai, or Jay, or even Sensei Wu, had died. I do not think I would bear it well." He finished explaining. He grabbed onto his arm, rubbing it slightly as a nervous habit._

" _Perfect!" Dr. Julien exclaimed, surprising Zane, who gave him an absolutely flabbergasted look._

" _Ah, yes, I know, but this is exactly what I was expecting you to say. You're right that we can't be sure as to how you will react, but I myself am fairly certain as to where it may go."_

 _Zane looked at him, both confused and eager._

" _I believe you will feel as though you no longer have a family. Being your creator, I am technically your only living relative. You've never met my parents, obviously, and I never had any brothers or sisters, so you can't really say that you had grandparents or aunts, uncles, cousins, the like. Put simply, when I die, you will be an orphan once more, and, like you said, I don't believe you will handle it very well." Dr. Julien rubbed his chin, thinking hard._

" _Okay… How, specifically, is this relevant to the separate piece of the will you mentioned?" Zane asked, a genuine curiosity bubbling in his voice. Wu half-chuckled behind Dr. Julien._

" _Knowing, at least thinking, that you will feel alone after such an event, I believe that," He paused, biting his finger as he tried to think of the proper words, "You will be in need of a new father-figure."_

 _Zane, taken aback by his creator's words, almost stumbled backward a step, suddenly feeling that he knew what would be said next._

" _A new…" He started, trailing off. The look Dr. Julien gave him said that he probably sounded distant or anxious. He looked between Dr. Julien and Wu multiple times, feeling somewhere between flustered and… something else, completely unidentifiable. He couldn't tell if it was a good feeling or a bad one, whether he was shocked or simply unprepared, but regardless, it was probably the most bizzare emotion he'd ever felt._

" _Yes, I know." Dr. Julien scratched the back of his head, wearing the kind of expression you expect when you hear the phrase 'nervous laughter.'_

" _It's a bit… drastic sounding, I'm sure, but after giving it some thought, I'm more than certain that this is what I want to do. You and Wu are already so close and have a very family-like bond already. I could see it that first day you discovered me in that tower. Maybe not quite a traditional father-son bond, but many of your own traits, as well as Wu's, are untraditional anyway. By the way that you tell me of your teacher, I believe Wu would not only serve as an ideal Sensei to you, but also as an ideal father-figure." Dr. Julien explained._

 _Zane looked around the room, suddenly very focused on taking in every little detail. Aside from the mess around the inventor's desk, to his right, he could turn and see the stairwell's end just behind him, and took note of how Dr. Julien stood about 7 feet in front of him, facing his direction. Wu stood another couple feet behind that, and off to the right, just a bit. It was as his eyes traveled the room that Zane realized how uncomfortable all three of them looked in the situation. Why did such a matter have to be so flustering?_

" _Zane?"_

 _He shook himself out of his mini-stupor and looked up, realizing that his father stood much closer to him now, a hand extended to touch his shoulder._

" _I need to know what you think." Dr. Julien stated, almost flatly._

" _I don't know. I don't know what I think. Or how I feel about it. It isn't a bad feeling, though." Zane decided._

" _That's okay. Of course! Believe it or not, son, you're handling it much better than I'd anticipated." Dr. Julien smiled warmly, pulling his hand off Zane's shoulder._

 _As he said that, though, Zane was hit with the realization of just how good it felt to be called 'son.' It wasn't something he heard very often, and he didn't need it to be, but it brought down the full force of the fact that, despite him being a robot- rather, a Nindroid, he was just as much Dr. Julien's son as any other boy was his own father's. And so it was that Dr. Julien was just as much a father to Zane as any other man was to his son._

 _Zane couldn't really say what came over him exactly, but he suddenly felt a surge of pride and fondness for his father, and the very idea of the tinkerer passing away, as they'd been discussing for a while now, suddenly became much heavier a load on him than it had ever been before._

 _Without even thinking about it, Zane grabbed onto Dr. Julien's retreating hand, causing him to look back up at Zane's face. He was a little bit bewildered to see Zane's eyes brimming with tears and his face reflecting almost that of betrayal. Zane, admittedly, was just as bewildered, not really knowing why he was suddenly so upset. Yet what really surprised the both of them was when Zane found himself leaning forward and wrapping around Dr. Julien in a massive hug, holding on like his life depended on it._

 _Dr. Julien took a step back, arms floating at his sides for a moment, completely unsure, before he realized what was happening and wrapped his arms around Zane, returning the hug full-heartedly._

" _I'm not going anywhere yet, I promise. And even when I do, I won't ever stop being your creator or father, Zane." Dr. Julien reassured. Zane, in response, tightened his embrace._

 _As the moment ended, the two pulled apart and Dr. Julien placed one hand on each of Zane's shoulders._

" _All we need is to know whether or not you're okay with this. I will always be your father, but you have to be able to turn to someone when I'm not here, and I know full well by now that you won't do that unless you have someone you can feel comfortable confiding in. Please, Zane. I want to do everything I can to make sure that you're not left feeling alone when I can't physically be here for you anymore." Dr. Julien gave him a pleading look, searching Zane's expression. Zane, having recomposed himself now, closed his eyes and took in a large breath, letting it out slowly as he thought hard about the situation._

 _After a long moment, he opened his eyes, determination filling them._

" _Okay."_

 _Dr. Julien looked incredulous for a flash of a second, almost like he wasn't expecting that answer, but quickly replaced the expression with a large grin, turning to look at Wu, who looked both relieved and ecstatic over the situation. The difficult part of the situation was over!_

 _While it seemed like things were done, there were still a few things that needed doing._

" _And you're certain?" Dr. Julien turned back to Zane, looking him in the eye._

" _Absolutely." Zane replied, smiling a little._

" _Oh, this is great!" Dr. Julien clapped his hands together, almost turning back to hug Zane again he was so happy._

" _Now, I must admit, I had Wu here mainly so he could hear for himself what you decided, and so I could see if you could really be comfortable enough with him to speak your mind. But he also serves one other purpose, and this needs to be done before you leave." Dr. Julien gestured to Wu, turning in a full circle and stopping when he was pointed at his desk, which he walked over to briskly._

" _Yes?" Zane asked, following behind him._

" _I- um, I'm afraid you may not like this bit very well. Do you remember what I told you when you came in? The first of three things you needed to keep in mind?"_

" _I-" Zane was prepared to answer, but had to pause to think, having nearly forgotten. His face dawned with realization, and he continued._

" _I won't leave with any memory of what we spoke of today." He said, a little more quietly._

" _Right." Dr. Julien confirmed. "However, something I left out, intentionally, mind you, was that later on, you will be granted access to today's memories. It will be a little bit of a wait, but after my passing, which could be, as I said, anywhere between the next few months or as many as 10 years, you will need to heal to a certain point before I believe you will truly be able to accept Wu as a father-figure. This is why I am writing a separate piece to the will, and will be handing it to him. You won't be allowed to so much as look at this piece, but it will tell Wu how long to wait, and how to know when it is the right time to re-introduce this idea to you." He began to explain._

" _Which makes sense. I am curious, however, how will you suppress my memories of today until that point?" Zane asked. He looked over Dr. Julien's shoulder, watching as the old man tinkered with one of the many small devices scattered around his desk._

" _That," Dr. Julien paused, lifting up the object in his hands, "Is where this comes in. The entire point of my, uh, project, here, is for this little trinket, which, if I programmed everything in correctly, will allow me to select a specific point from your past and virtually pause everything in your memory from then up until the moment the device is activated. Does that make sense?" He lifted the device up to eye level, examining it from every angle._

" _I think so. How does it work?" Zane watched him turn it every which way, blowing dust off it and checking underneath its casing for any damage._

" _That is where this horrible little piece of plastic and wiring takes its toll. I couldn't come up with very many ways in which I could suspend only a portion of your memory. I couldn't risk causing you to lose all your memory if I'd done something wrong. This was the final design, and it will do what it's intended to do, but it must be installed into your main wiring. And to do so, six of your core wires will have to be severed and integrated into these input and output entries."_

 _At this, Zane's face fell. While it wasn't quite the same as it was for regular people, who didn't HAVE wires, having anything within your body severed wasn't too terrible comfortable. Quite the opposite, actually, especially if he really meant the CORE wires..._

" _It will take a moment to have the device prepared properly, especially if it has to last until… well, until whenever it is I pass away, which, once again, could be as long as 10 years… You have a few minutes, but now that we have this sorted out, and especially seeing how soon you will need to be at home, resting, it will need to be activated very quickly." Dr. Julien explained. He turned back to his desk, placing the device down and opening a panel on the side of the small object._

 _Zane watched him tinker with it for a few moments, but decided on walking over to Wu. The whole idea was still a little bit awkward, but he had one question in the back of his mind, burning his tongue._

" _Sense?" He asked as he approached the old Master. Wu turned to him, an unreadable gaze falling on Zane._

" _Was this… was this something you agreed to personally? I wouldn't feel right if it was something you felt required to do." He said slowly._

" _Zane, I care for you very much. As do I Kai and Nya, Cole, Jay. You all mean very much to me, and it is just as much in my own interest as it is in your father's to be there for you if something goes wrong." Wu answered, giving Zane a sympathetic look. Zane looked to the side, not sure what needed to be said._

" _The question, Zane, is whether or not you feel comfortable with me taking on that role. I will never be quite the same as your father. We differ greatly. I cannot provide the same kind of comfort, conversation, support, or any such thing that I know Dr. Julien can. It will be a little different. I agreed because I care for you as both a student and, put simply, as a child. I will always do what I can to be present in any kind of situation. What determines it all is whether you will accept such a presence from me when the time is right." Wu said. Zane looked at him fondly, smile growing somewhat._

" _Thank you, Sensei." He said respectfully, bowing his head._

 _Contrasting his more serious and responsible tone of voice, Wu suddenly perked up and looked at Zane with faux exasperation._

" _You are admirable and respectful, Zane. But am I too old for a simple hug?"_

 _Zane blinked a few times, somewhat confused. As he realized that Wu was being sarcastic (something Jay taught him aaaall about), he laughed a little bit, voice slowly rising until his laughter rung more heartily._

" _Forgive me, Sensei." He said, amusement still in his voice. Then, calming himself somewhat, he added, "I don't think the situation is quite right." He said, deciding with firmity. Wu smiled at him goofily._

 _Before either could continue the situation, Dr. Julien shouted, "HA!"_

 _Zane jumped a little, turning around to find his father holding the same little device, smiling victorious._

" _I think we are finally ready to get this thing installed." Dr. Julien said. His expression fell a little, but he kept up the positive attitude, walking over to join Zane and Wu, the device, as well as a piece of paper, in hand._

" _What's-"_

 _Zane meant to ask what the paper was, but, as if on cue, he ended up yawning widely instead, his eyes watering as he moved his hand to cover his mouth. Dr. Julien smiled sympathetically at Zane. He checked his wrist watch, making a 'yikes' face as he read '10:31 P.M..'_

 _As Zane finished his yawn, shaking his head to realert his senses, he tried again._

" _What is the paper for?"_

" _This? Ah, yes, I probably should have simply left it on the desk. I pulled it out a few hours ago, before you arrived. It was intended for a letter to send to you, actually, in a few weeks. I have considered creating a second treehouse. It could make for a number of good things. A second workshop, or perhaps to purely be a home, more comfortable than this, or as a fall-back in the case that Ninjago city is attacked again. It would require some work, and seeing as how you won't remember me telling you now, I figured it would be better if I sent my ideas as a letter in a few weeks, when we can discuss it properly. Big news, I'm sure! See, I would like to-" Dr. Julien cut himself off, shaking his head as he realized how side-tracked he would get if he kept going._

" _Really, there isn't much on it. Aside from 'My Dearest Zane,' as most my letters will introduce themselves. I'll have to finish it tomorrow." Dr. Julien chuckled again, taking a breath and turning a bit so he could lift the device in his hands._

" _Now, Zane, before you fall asleep in the spot, let's get you situated on a couch or something so we can install this properly. I don't want to sever the wrong wire because you were too tired to stay on your feet. And it's very late. I would assume you'd like to be in bed before you need to be up in the morning, yes?" He laughed again, turning around and walking toward the opposite end of the room at a couch._

" _Just lay here, if you could." He said, gesturing broadly to the piece of aged furniture. Zane nodded his head, walking hesitantly to the couch and laying down on it._

 _It was at this point, though, that he realized how tired he was. His eyelids became very heavy and the conversation Wu and Dr. Julien started began to simply blur into a bunch of gargled sounds._

 _As his exhaustion finally caught up to him, he could only barely register when the panel on his chest had been flipped open. His father gave him a quick warning before six *snap*s could be heard, followed by six very sharp pains in his lower left abdomen._

 _The same spots continued to ache as the wires were twisted onto some foreign object and everything began to go hazy._

 _Where was he again?_

 _And why did his side hurt?_

 _Was that Dr. Julien standing over him? Or was it Sensei Wu?_

 _No! Wait! It was both! Why were they both here?  
Where was here?_

 _Did it even matter?_

 _And at that, Zane breathed out a sigh, the hazy colors and sounds above him finally fading to black, leaving him in a peaceful, blissful sleep._

* * *

"Here we are!" Wu declared. "Now, who has the basket?" He turned around to look at Zane, knowing full well that the basket was hidden with the ninja. He gave Zane an expectant look as the Nindroid shook himself out of his awe. The tree they stopped at truly was magnificent.

As Zane registered what had been said to him, he looked about himself briefly before shrugging. _He_ didn't have the basket.

"I believe Kai was the one who had it last." Zane said. He turned around to call for Kai, but, as was planned, Kai wasn't there, and neither was anyone else. Wu took in a deep breath, closing his eyes and swallowing. His throat was a dry, and his nervousness was really beginning to show. It was very unlike him. Regardless, as Zane realized everyone was missing, Wu narrowed his eyes, completely focused.

He knew what he had to do.

"Where-?" Zane uttered the unfinished question, to be left unanswered for the moment. He began to turn around, and just as he made eye contact with Wu, he gasped loudly, thoroughly surprised.

Wu had tackled him to the ground. Zane struggled and tried to wriggle away, but Wu was stronger than he looked. Zane looked up at Wu, shock and question in his eyes. _What's happening?!_ Was the unspoken question. Wu scrunched his eyebrows sadly.

"Forgive me, Zane." He said. As he grabbed onto each of Zane's arms, pushing him more firmly in place, he reached for and opened the panel on his chest, proving only to cause Zane more panic.

"Sensei- What are you-"

Wu reached toward the device.

"Ow!" Zane yelped. Wu had grabbed hold of the device placed just to the left of where Zane's belly button would have been, then pulled it out. He flinched at how roughly he had to do it, all the wires it was attached to breaking and snapping back into place. Zane yelled out in pain as the device was disconnected. He would understand, wouldn't he?

Now it was really time to work fast. It was crucial that he got all these wires connected with each other properly as quickly as he could. Zane continued to struggle, completely panicked now, and Wu reached back at the broken wires. He twisted the broken ends together, knowing that Jay or Nya could fix and connect them properly later on.

First wire, done. Zane jerked as the metal ends touched and intertwined.

Second wire, done. Zane jerked again, struggling with all he had.

Third wire, fourth, fifth, all repaired. Zane jerked painfully with each one, but as Wu grabbed the sixth one and twisted the ends together, Zane let out another, more forceful shout, then froze altogether.

He'd done it. Wu relaxed as he watched Zane calm, going limp in his grasp. He stopped struggling and leaned against the ground and his face went blank as his eyes closed.

If he did it right, this meant that Zane was remembering now. That was a good thing!

But Wu felt that it didn't justify everything he had just done.

Slowly, Wu stood up to look at Zane. He almost smiled. Zane looked so innocent when he was asleep, almost child-like. It had been a little while since he'd seen the more positive side of those traits showing through in Zane. It would have to have been…

The day that the device was installed in Zane. Or, perhaps, the morning of the day after that, only hours before he'd received the letter. Oh, how ironic it was! Wu could still remember the conversation so… vividly. It made him both happy and sad at the same time. Dr. Julien had become one of his good friends, and it was very clear how much the man meant to Zane.

' _I could be here for as little as two months. Or I may even last another ten years. And then again, I could just as easily lose my life today.'_

How right he was, though! Had the topic been on something other than the loss of his life, Wu would have thought Dr. Julien's comment funny at this point. He _had_ lost his life that day. And it was very surreal.

After the device had been installed, Zane pretty instantly passed out, exhausted from the day's events. After that, Wu had decided to help Dr. Julien tidy the tree house once more, remaining there for a number of hours. Once things were cleaned up, Dr. Julien was still so excited at how willing Zane had been to go along with his plan that he decided to keep working on other things, Wu being happy to help. For example, or, actually, for the main event, Dr. Julien decided that the unfinished letter he promised to finish writing the following day was something he wanted to work on before going to bed.

Whilst writing this letter, Dr. Julien had to pause, claiming that he suddenly had very bad heartburn. He asked Wu to check a cabinet in his kitchen, which was in another room. Wu ran off quickly to retrieve a medication or a drink of milk or something, and when he had what he was asked to get, he came back to a sight he would never forget. He was alarmed- horrified- to see Dr. Julien collapsed on the floor, chair knocked on its side and papers scattered on the floor around him. The lamp on the desk had been knocked over, the bulb shattered and fizzing with electricity.

What sealed the morbidity of the whole situation was when Wu went to help him up and found that the old man no longer had a heartbeat.

The emergency services couldn't do anything.

And it was just to Wu's luck that it was 1:00 in the morning, thus Zane was too tired to be conscious and know what was happening. The news spread to the Ninjago City Council ridiculously fast, and before Wu had even made it home, a soundfully sleeping and blissfully unaware Zane in his arms, he was met by an official representative from the council who wanted to help in any way he could.

Surprising this representative, Wu actually had a very specific request for him. He wanted a letter sent to Zane about the situation. Dr. Julien had too, but the representative wasn't aware of the fact that Zane was asleep throughout the whole thing. After Wu explained the basis of what happened, it made sense that he would want the news broken to Zane another way.

The format for the letter, as was customary when delivering this kind of news, would include the topic of each letter sent from the person who had died before informing the recipient of the death. One letter, however, would have made Zane far too suspicious. It was one he had received the day before this one, titled 'Very Important Meeting!' Zane's memory had been paused back to the morning of the day he received this letter, up to the evening of the following day when the device was installed.

The last thing Wu wanted was to have to show Zane the memories prematurely. It would have caused more problems than it was supposed to solve.

Hopefully, this would _solve_ a few things.

He remembered the day the letter was sent, too, only a day after Dr. Julien's death. He had avoided Zane most of the day by simply keeping to his room and letting the ninja have the day off. Zane didn't suspect. Through the whole day, he waited anxiously for that letter, unsure of how Zane would react to it. And he remembered having to act surprised when Nya bumped into him and fell to the floor. It took him a moment to realize that she was holding a snowflake adorned piece of paper, folded into thirds. Once he had, though, he had only to hear her out and find Zane.

And though he had to act surprised, he didn't have to act concerned. He cared very much for Zane, and, aside from Dr. Julien, was probably the most father-like person that Zane had ever had, which was precisely why Dr. Julien asked him to take part in his plan.

How long had it been now? Zane had to re-experience those memories, but they should have been… Sped up, almost. Like a dream. To him, he would be re-living the whole, experiencing it second for second, minute for minute, hour for hour. On the outside, it should only take a fraction of that time.

20 minutes, now. Zane was only just beginning to stir, but not wake.

Where would he have been by now? What was he experiencing at this moment?

" _The question, Zane, is whether or not you feel comfortable with me taking on that role. I will never be quite the same as your father. We differ greatly. I cannot provide the same kind of comfort, conversation, support, or any such thing that I know Dr. Julien can. It will be a little different. I agreed because I care for you as both a student and, put simply, as a child. I will always do what I can to be present in any kind of situation. What determines it all is whether you will accept such a presence from me when the time is right."_

Wu remembered, smiling a little. Zane had smiled, too, when he heard Wu explain this. When he referred to Zane as a child, he meant it in a great many of ways. Zane was still so innocent and kind. Physically, too, he was very young. Though Zane said his earliest memory included a very young-looking Dr. Julien, the truth was that the inventor was already well into his 50s. He'd done very well taking care of himself, and took the effort to dye his hair, so he never looked as old as he was. It had taken him many years to learn how to create individual emotions and thoughts for Zane, not to mention all the things he did to make Zane's physical features more human-like. Things like pain, memory, movement, intelligence that wasn't based off a computer… It took him many, many years indeed.

After Zane was built, he ended up putting all his efforts into caring for the Nindroid and following his scientific impulses. He no longer cared about the way his hair looked, or how decently lacking of wrinkles his skin was, only that he was healthy and able so as to watch after Zane.

By the time Dr. Julien passed away, he was in his mid-70s. Zane couldn't be any older than his late teens, just like the other ninja. It was funny, how things worked like that.

And he got along with the other ninja just as he should. He was respectful of them, but liked to play around when he could.

It was things like Zane's stubbornness to fight for his friends and his absolute and pure compassion for others that made him stick out, made him more like a child. Even down to the basics of how he displayed emotion showed just how much he was still growing up.

" _Thank you, Sensei." Zane had replied._

Would Zane still thank him after the time he's had to spend recovering? Would his mindset change?

 _Zane bowed his head respectfully toward Wu._

Wu remembered the conversation, finding himself wanting to follow it. He remembered how his mood had changed multiple times that day. He had been cautious when the idea was introduced to Zane, then delighted when Zane agreed. He was more serious and passionate when Zane asked him about whether or not Wu himself thought it was a good idea. But then...

 _Contrasting his more serious and responsible tone of voice, Wu suddenly perked up and looked at Zane with faux exasperation._

" _You are admirable and respectful, Zane."_

Wu remembered with a smile, rewatching the memory.

" _But am I too old for a simple hug?"_

 _Zane blinked a few times, somewhat confused. As he realized that Wu was being sarcastic (something Jay taught him aaaall about), he laughed a little bit, voice slowly rising until his laughter rung more heartily._

" _Forgive me, Sensei." He said, amusement still in his voice. Then, calming himself somewhat, he added, "I don't think the situation is quite right."_

It was an odd excuse, Wu had decided, but an acceptable one nonetheless. As he let the memory fall away, Wu sighed heavily. Would Zane really accept the idea?

Since Dr. Julien passed away, Zane's been forced through the heartbreak of losing his father, then through being kept secrets from, and in addition was left underneath false impressions, lies, as Wu prepared for this day.

And he felt terrible about the kind of pain he had to put Zane through in order to reactivate these suppressed memories.

He would have wondered as to whether Zane would be mad at him or not, but that was another thing he loved so dearly about Zane. The Nindroid virtually never got angry at anyone for anything, and especially not if it was a matter that couldn't be controlled. He was the one who looked before he leapt, so to speak, and thought things out in a more controlled and matured way. Yet he also expressed how he felt about the situation and tended to seek out help when he didn't know how to react. It was just another thing that made Zane who he was.

Regardless, Wu couldn't help but to feel bad. He was more worried than ever now, knowing full well that Zane would be experiencing the same pain of losing his father all over again when he woke up. In these vivid memories, he would experience the same love he felt for his father that day, hugging his father and speaking with him one more time. It was almost like getting to say his last goodbye, but this time he would be far more aware that the last time he saw his father was really the last time. It would be all the more meaningful to him now, and thus all the more painful to sit up and realize that he would never be able to experience that sort of thing again.

"I'm so sorry, Zane." Wu said, closing his eyes shut. Dr. Julien wouldn't be coming back, and Wu would never be able to be the same _kind_ of comfort to Zane. Even after the whole ordeal, he had trouble believing that Zane would ever truly be able to accept him.

But that most certainly didn't mean he wasn't going to try and be there. Through all the brutal training sessions, farewells, and secrets, everything Wu'd done was to help Zane and the other ninja.

And yet he just felt so worried… And sad. He had to suppress these memories from Zane, he had to make Zane face the pain of loss, he had to keep secrets and tell lies, he had to lead Zane away from safety, trap him, tackle him, cause him pain, just because Dr. Julien wanted Zane to be able to have someone to confide in.

"So, very, sorry." He said quietly, lowering his head.

"Sensei?" A quiet voice asked, groaning. Wu looked up hopefully, seeing Zane half sitting up, leaning back on one of his elbows. He had his other arm lifted up, a hand to his head.

"Zane! You're awake. Are you alright?" Wu asked, rushing to offer a hand. Zane accepted it, pulling himself up. As he got onto his feet, wobbling back and forth a little bit, he reached a hand down to his side, where the device had been.

"Ow…" He moaned.

"I'm sorry, Zane." Wu said apologetically, grabbing gently onto Zane's shoulders to steady him.

"I-it's okay." Zane said, still sounding a bit dazed.

Wu wasn't certain of what to say, not wanting to push at the topic on both their minds.

"What-" Zane started the question, looking very confused, but a look of realization dawned on his face before he could finish.

"I can't believe…" He trailed off.

"Yes. I am quite well aware of how unbelievable the situation sounds." Wu commented, guiding Zane off to the side and to the tree. As Zane thought hard, Wu moved him underneath the shade of the tree, moving his hand so he could lean against the trunk.

"No… That's not it." Zane said suddenly, sounding firm.

"No? Then what is?" Wu asked. He wasn't quite expecting Zane to say what he had.

"Were you given a say in your part of this?" Zane asked very seriously, turning to Wu. A hand still rested on his head.

"Of course, Zane. I was not only willing, but eager to take part." Wu answered.

"Oh."

Wu looked at him worriedly. Was he disappointed?

"What bothers you?" He asked.

"I… don't know." Zane looked at the ground, staring hard.

Wu looked straight ahead, opting to just stand next to Zane.

Zane's expression was that of confusion, realization, and uncertainty. A very unsteady mix, but he also looked determined, like he was trying to make a final decision.

Wu simply sat, willing to accept anything Zane had to say, before thinking of something to say himself.

"I think your father would be proud of how you have progressed. You have found ways to occupy your time and still interact with the ninja on a healthy level. You have managed to increase and maintain your mental and physical health. And I am proud of you also."

Zane's eyes widened slightly and he turned to Wu decisively.

"Sensei…" He started. Wu listened expectantly, turning to face Zane as he spoke.

"I _do_ think the situation is quite right." He said. Wu looked at him confusedly, taking in Zane's groggy state of mind. Zane really was exhausted, still wobbling on his feet and his eyes half lidded. Was he even fully aware of what he was saying? Perhaps it would be best to take him back to the Bounty and confront him tomorrow?

As these thoughts began to race, Wu remembered, once more, something Zane had said to him that day. Something, even, he'd been reflecting on earlier.

' _You are admirable and respectful, Zane. But am I too old for a simple hug?'_

' _Forgive me, Sensei!' Zane laughed. "I don't think the situation is quite right.'_

Surprising Wu out of his thoughts, Zane leaned forward and hugged him firmly, similarly, even, to how he hugged Dr. Julien that same day. A pride for Wu and a gratitude swelled and Zane couldn't have been more happy to know that Wu cared enough for him to take part in making sure he had someone to turn to when things were rough.

* * *

PHEW! Ohmigosh, that's the longest one-shot I've ever done! I don't honestly think I could have kept it up much longer, and really, the ending felt a little big abrupt. But I guess it is what it is, and I'll have to re-read it sometime when I'm more awake to make sure it's alright. Whether it is or it isn't, I've got a lot of other things that need writing now, too, and this story is very definitely longer than any other I've done. I wonder if I should be posting these with their own chapters in the collection? Naw… You guys can just read a 23K word story in one page, right? Hah! Oh well, I'll try to make the next one a touch shorter. Tell me what you think, and don't be afraid to **request a one-shot!** Thanks for reading, everybody! I'll have the next one-shot ASAP!

Oh, by the way, a few things that I want to throw in, the ninja literally just walked off one by one toward the end and hid somewhere amongst the trees, which is why they were all missing when Zane turned to find Kai.

Erm, actually, that's only one thing, but I'll let you know if I think of any others!

-LizzyLucky

Edit: Dude, I reread my opening note and realized that through all my activities, it still took me the whole summer to finish this thing! But considering that it's 39 pages and features how my absolutely terrible skills from the beginning of the story change to that of much better skills near the end, I hope it was worth it. I hope you guys enjoy, and I'll get to what's next when I can!

-LizzyLucky


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